TIME: Doors at 6:00 pm, presentation begins promptly at 6:30 pm.

On Adaptations and Deceits at First Sight from the Mexican artist Viviana Martínez Carlos is a collaborative artist book which narrates the biological adaptation of the palm tree on the urban landscape of California, published by Entropico Ediciones.

The palm tree image is one of the most prominent symbols in the collective memory of the State of California. Utilizing imagery from the public domain dated between the years 1880 and 1920 as well as contemporary photographs by Martínez Carlos, On Adaptations and Deceits at First Sight presents the palm tree as an inhabitant transplanted to this time and place. Brief descriptions of biological adaptations of the palm tree and reflections on the construction of the landscape are mixed in the texts.

Martínez Carlos will be in conversation with San Francisco based conceptual artist Alex Nichols, and focus on studio and research practices, the nature of collaboration, and how personal narrative can influence one's body of work.

Please note the following:

*Event attendees will be required to show proof of vaccination and a government-issued photo ID when arriving onsite for this event.

*Well-fitting face masks are required at all times while indoors at San Francisco Center for the Book.

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS:

Viviana Martínez Carlos is a photographer and visual storyteller born and raised in Mexico. She earned her BA in Visual Arts from the University of Guanajuato, Mexico in 2014; she attended the Narrative Photography workshop taught by the Magnum Agency at the University of Texas in 2016. In 2018, Martínez Carlos completed the continuing education program in Art Anthropology taught by the Center for Research and Higher Studies in Social Anthropology (CIESAS).

Alex Nichols is a conceptual artist born in San Francisco. Alex’s art focuses on observing and translating the world inside her, the world around her, and the world between us all. Alex works with a diverse range of media, including film, writing, photography, drawing, performance and installation. The use of the body is dominant in her work, inquiring into the question “Can we really know ourselves?” Her work is playful, humorous and observant.