Alexis looks for a visual language to understand how people are connected to the places they inhabit. Sarah writes about how places and people inhabit each other. Now they collaborate—a series of interviews of people in their homes, and the resulting conversations and artisanal and theoretical responses. The collaboration yields interesting work, but it does not yet create a structure to include other artists.
Alexis tells Sarah she should live in the Sunset. Sarah comes to visit, and Alexis shows her the neighborhood. Alexis tells her that home is the most important place to be. To make a home. To be where you belong. Sarah doesn’t bake bread on Bernal Hill. She stays at Alexis’ house a lot. After house-sitting for a week, she moves here. In the Sunset Sarah bakes a lot of bread. She walks from her apartment to the beach. Sarah loves the Sunset. Alexis loves the Sunset. And they want to know why.
A year and a half ago, Lana thinks about family. Someday, she thinks, years from now, yes, but someday, we will want more than us. And to her husband, David, she says, We need to do something. We need to be ready. So there in their homeland, in the foggy reaches of San Francisco, she and David decide to start a café. And the baby says, that sounds great . . . here I come! Thus the scramble begins. Starting with their seaside cottage, Lana scrubs and makes soup. She works in the garden, imagines what could thrive in that quality of sand and shade. Everything feels like it is gathering closer. It is in, in, in— to the cupboards, the pot, the ground. It is a grand experiment in quiet, clean lines, stacks organized by size and use, rows of green. Meanwhile, a few blocks away, David drives nails into weathered wood, installs lighting, organizes cutlery. . . until, finally,
Everything is put away. The two of them close their eyes, take a deep breath, and wait to see what will grow.
Sarah and Alexis invite Lana over because they know they need to discuss these things. And when she comes over they say: the Sunset! portraits! making! and it all feels right.