NOSTALGIA TRANSLATION: SAN FRANCESCO, SAN FRANCISCO, ST. FRANCIS, Rachel Stevens, :40, video (quicktime), 1.3 mb, 1997
After meeting each day in the ex-church San Francesco during a month-long workshop/residency with Alan Kaprow in Como, Italy, I eventually came to the realization that the town I was born and raised in, San Francisco, was named after Saint Francis, the Catholic saint. Saint Francis is known for his kindness to animals, vow of poverty and humble embrace of the everyday. When I returned to San Francisco, I dressed as Saint Francis and visited various tourist spots, such as the Golden Gate Bridge and Lombard Street, the Italian neighborhood North Beach and the pet cemetery. A few days later, major earthquakes rocked Assisi, Italy, damaging frescoes in the Basilica San Francesco and killing two Franciscan friars.
Stills of St. Francis' visit to San Francisco were sent back to Milan, Italy for an exhibition at the Viafarini Gallery.

Thanks to Charles Gute (videography) and the Fondazione Antonio Ratti, Como, Italy.

Rachel Stevens <metamatic@earthlink.net>is an interdisciplinary artist and curator. Her work often attempts to bridge various media and genres such as minimal sculpture and digital imaging, motion capture and experimental documentary film, video games and painting. She is currently teaching Digital Media in the Department of Modern Culture and Media of Brown University. She has an MFA from the University of California, San Diego and a BFA in Photography from the Rhode Island School of Design.