Physique Ephemeral
March 11 – June 26, 2027
Bob Mizer Museum and Photographic Archives
An exhibition of three local queer artists from the Bay Area, who were invited to explore and respond to the archival holdings of the BMMaPA
Bob Mizer Museum and Photographic Archives
920 Larkin StreetSan Francisco, CA 94109Entry is available from the street.
Tuesday–Saturday 11 a.m.–5 p.m.
Free
Partially ADA accessible. The exhibition Physique Ephemeral is ADA accessible; some portions of the museum are located up a short flights of stairs.
Physique Ephemeral is the culmination of a yearlong project that asked local queer Bay Area artists Salimatu Amabebe, Nicolaus Chaffin, and J Rivera Pansa to create work in conversation with the archival holdings of the BMMaPA. The resulting artwork revels in the museum and archival space as a site of collective queer memory and world building, and asks the question: “What does it mean to build a body, to build a language for desire, to build a network of kinship?”
The exhibition questions a long-held assumption of the archive as crystallized canon; it explores the recorded and unrecorded histories of queer people, and invites viewers to enter the world of BMMaPA, the world of the image, and the world of the built body.
Physique Ephemeral is curated by ZH Leonard and Maxwell Sutter Zinkievich.
Exhibiting Artists
J Rivera Pansa, Nicolaus Chaffin, Salimatu Amabebe
Salimatu Amabebe, Pikin, Pikin, 2023/1994. Pewter-cast frame, digital color print. Image courtesy of the Museum of African Diaspora, San Francisco
Exhibition Support
This exhibition was made possible through the Further Triennial’s Community Impact Fund. Support for the Community Impact Fund is generously provided by the Carla and David Crane Foundation.
Bob Mizer Museum and Photographic Archives
The Bob Mizer Museum and Photographic Archives (BMMaPA) is an archive and gallery space located in San Francisco that seeks to collect, preserve, and exhibit early homoerotic visual arts alongside modern, contemporary artists influenced by the museum’s namesake, Robert “Bob” Mizer.
Things to Do Around Here
An absolutely fantastic place to stop for a coffee and a pastry in the area is The French Spot, just up Larkin Street from the BMMaPA. Really a gem of a place in the neighborhood, I can’t recommend them highly enough!
Maxwell Sutter Zinkievich, Curator, Bob Mizer Museum and Photographic Archives
Just across the street from the BMMaPA, Jane on Larkin has fantastic coffee and sandwiches!
ZH Leonard, Guest Curator
One block down from the BMMaPA, Rosebud Gallery shows a wonderful selection of local queer artists’ work in stunning group shows. Say hi to Cabure for us!
Maxwell & ZH