This show at the Bonnafont Gallery in San Francisco, featured the Illuminated Manuscripts for Secrets Under the Skin by Susan Matthews. The show was curated by Slobadan Dan Paich, artistic director of  Artship. Paich could see in Matthews’ work the connections across the waters between Ghana and Cuba, and see the “lived ideas across time.” Working with these themes, he installed Matthews’ manuscripts inside large grommeted cellophane envelopes, hung from the high ceilings by black braided cord studded with beads and sea shells to commemorate the tides of the crossings. Paich has studied ancient manuscripts in libraries around the world. He noted that manuscripts are preserved inside cellophane, which is not plastic, but is made from plant fibers and is archival.

 
Although the month-long show featured Matthews’ work, an afternoon was devoted to screening each of Jill Flanders Crosby’s Performance-Based Videos. Both Matthews and Flanders Crosby presented lectures concerning the project.