Exhibition

Amy Elkins: A Place Where We Are in the Sun

December 12, 2026 – June 4, 2027

SFO Museum

Amy Elkins embeds photographs from her family archive into Southern California landscapes, exploring memory, identity, and connections to place.

A vertical, black-and-white photograph of two young, dark-haired women, their blouses cut away by the artist, is tucked into a flowering shrub. Shown from the shoulders up against a pale background, the women are positioned above a dark rectangular area across the lower portion of the photograph. Pale blue-white flowers extend through the openings where the blouses have been cut away, with blossoms pillowing above and below the photograph. The photograph and flowers are nestled within dense green foliage and wild vegetation.

SFO Museum

400 Domestic Terminals Departures LevelSan Francisco, CA 94128

Please see exhibition description for detailed instructions to get to Gallery 3A.

Cayuga Terrace, Parkmerced, Peninsula, SFO

Monday–Sunday  6 a.m.–11 p.m.

Admission is free, but requires an SFO Gate Explorer pass for post-security access.

Register

ADA Accessible

In A Place Where We Are in the Sun, Amy Elkins, an eighth-generation Angeleno, traces her blended Indigenous, Mexican, and European ancestry across Southern California. Exploring landscapes between Lompoc and Los Angeles, Elkins returns to places tied to her family’s history—where they lived, worked, and gathered. She stages altered reproductions of family photographs within these sites and then rephotographs them. Through this process, Elkins transforms traditional black-and-white pictures into layered, porous collages where past and present meet, and figures and environments begin to merge. These sites are not passive backdrops but active participants through which memory is revisited and reimagined.

Though grounded in her personal history, the work invites viewers to consider how belonging and connection to place intersect with their own stories. By reuniting family photographs with these landscapes—spaces now irrevocably transformed by environmental change, overdevelopment, and gentrification—Elkins is not attempting to restore the past, but rather seeking meaningful ways to reconnect with it.

How to Find the Gallery:

Disembark the AirTrain at the Terminals 2 & 3 station. After crossing the moving walkway above the vehicle traffic, take the escalator on your right down to the Departures Hall. Turn left and walk past the Terminal 2 airline check-in desks on your right. Continue through the corridor, passing artwork along the left wall and Alison Saar’s stainless steel sculpture Flourish. Gallery 3A is immediately to your right at the end of the corridor, next to a Terminal 3 exit. The exhibition is pre-security.

Exhibiting Artists

Amy Elkins

A vertical, black-and-white photograph of a dark-haired young man is nestled within dense green foliage and drooping clusters of yellow-brown flowers. The photograph depicts a man in profile, standing before a white picket fence, with houses and trees in the distance. The man's jacket has been cut away by the artist, allowing several flower clusters to protrude through the opening, while his white shirt and black tie remain intact.
A hand entering from the lower left holds a vertical, black-and-white photograph in front of a blurred landscape of trees and water. The photograph shows a woman and man standing side by side before a painted backdrop. To the right, a carpeted staircase with a decoratively patterned bannister ascends to windows and drapery. A short stone barrier wall extends from the staircase and is partially obscured by the figures. The woman has long, dark hair and wears a blouse with real flowers cascading over one shoulder. The artist has cut away her skirt, leaving her feet in black high heels intact. The dark-haired man wears black dress shoes and slacks. His jacket has been cut away by the artist, leaving his white shirt and black bow tie intact. Through these openings, the landscape behind the photograph is revealed, including water reflecting sunlight.

Amy Elkins, Lompo / Lompoc, La Purisima Concepción (coast live oak) (detail), 2023. Archival pigment print. © Amy Elkins, courtesy of the artist

SFO Museum

Established in 1980 by the San Francisco Airport Commission, SFO Museum’s mission is to elevate the airport experience by connecting the Bay Area to the world, through inspiring stories of culture, aviation history, and art.

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Things to Do Around Here

  • Need a caffeine fix? Just a short walk from the exhibition, Modern Bay Brew has you covered with coffee and treats to help fuel you through the rest of your SFO art gauntlet! Near the Security checkpoint in Terminal 2.

    300 Domestic Terminals Departures Level, San Francisco

    Allie Haeusslein, Curator of Photography and Student Art, SFO Museum

  • Back in your car and starving? Just ten minutes away, Mazra serves up a fantastic range of Mediterranean dishes, from wraps and plates to salads and delicious dips. You really can’t go wrong with anything on the menu!

    504 San Bruno Ave W, San Bruno

    Allie Haeusslein, Curator of Photography and Student Art, SFO Museum

  • Just around the corner from Gallery 3A, heading toward Terminal 2, you’ll find a San Francisco Arts Commission installation anchored by Alison Saar’s powerful Flourish. Surrounding works by Sydney Cain, Erica Deeman, yétúndé ọlágbajú, Trina Michelle Robinson, and others explore diasporic movement, rootedness, and repair—ideas that resonate with Elkins’s exhibition.

    Allie Haeusslein, Curator of Photography and Student Art, SFO Museum

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