SFMOMA curator to speak at arts festival

The senior photography curator for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Sandra Phillips, will be the keynote speaker for Sacramento State’s Spring Art History Symposium “In Light of the Pacific: Photography from the Pacific Rim.” Phillips will talk at 1 p.m., Saturday, March 4 in Mariposa Hall 1000. The symposium is part of the University’s Festival of the Arts from March 2 to 12.

Phillips will discuss the works of renowned photographer Shomei Tomatsu, a Japanese artist that created a post-World War II photo diary of Japan and documented the radical transformations within his homeland. Phillips will install Tomatsu’s exhibit, “Shomei Tomatsu: Skin of the Nation,” this May at the SFMOMA.

The symposium will also feature art historians discussing photography from the Pacific Rim: the North Pacific, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Southwest Pacific and the Americas, which address region-specific and intercultural subjects, issues and aesthetics.

Other photo exhibits during the festival include “The Triumph of Helios: Photographic Treasures of the California State Library,” which features 19th century photographs, opening at the University Library Gallery March 3, and a show of photography by the Sacramento State faculty.

The art history symposium is free. Seating is limited. Other Festival of the Arts events can be found at www.csus.edu/events. For more information, contact the Sacramento State Art Department at 278-6166.