Draft of ''Mapping a Writer's World: Jack London" 2017 Images courtesy of Huntington Library
Mapping a Writer's World:Jack London Concept: Jack London as the first in a series on authors/artists. Example: ''Mapping a Writer's World: John Muir'' Mark Tuain Ernest Hemingway
_;Concept and proposal Stephanie Tay/Qr
, Demonstrate London's humanitarianism and the magnitude of hi,s experience ,howcasing his photography, ephemera and Taylor's artistic maps and paintings. Incite cwiosity to learn more about issues in the last century that inform our contemporcuy experience.
Notes from the artist
In 1991, I returned to the East Bay home of my ancestors. My father and my grandfather were both born in Piedmont. I'd never spent any time in the East Bay, as my family had all passed, except for my father, who had left the area when he was five.
"Jack & Friends," detail of12x60," 1997, Jack London Square, Oakland, CA.
I was creating mmals for the Oakland Airport Hilton. "Amelia & Friends," featured 30 aviation pioneers who flew in and out of California between 1920 and 1940. A manager from a hotel at Jack London Square came to visit, a visit that incited memories ofmy family connections to Jack London. My grandfather was the Police Court judge in whose court Jack had appeared. My aunt had told me that London had threatened to set off a bomb under the front steps of my grandfather's home. There is no evidence of this, but there is of London's great antipathy towards Judge George Samuels. In 1996, I was commissioned to create mmals at Jack London Square. During the research process, I spent time with the London photography collection, then housed at California State Park at Sonoma. Thousands of copies of his photos filled blue binders. The Korean photos caught my attention. I said to the curator, "This fellow can shoot. We should do a book." The curator looked back at me and said, "I'm going going sailing. You write the book." What I saw was the humanity reflected in his subjects, some of whom had never seen a white man. Because I've had been photographing people for my entire career, I recognized what it took to get such intimate responses from his subjects. What I saw in London's portraits was an element of trust. What his subjects must have seen in London was a humanitarian.
"Jack London Mural," 22x20,' 2005, Beer's Books, Sacramento, CA