Ghost Bike: A Photographic Journey by Genea Barnes


September 1 – October 5, 2013
@ Dogpatch Cafe & Art Gallery


A white-painted bicycle leans, locked to a post a few feet away from the spot where a car struck and killed a bicyclist. Flowers decorate the abandoned bike, a visible reminder that life is fragile.

This is a Ghost Bike, one of over 500 such memorials chained to fences, streetlights, and signposts across the United States. Genea Barnes discovered Ghost Bikes while shooting in New York in May 2010, and their symbolic power affected her profoundly. Each year, the US sees more than 600 bicyclist fatalities, and more than 50,000 bicyclists report injuries. Ghost Bikes symbolize this suffering and these lost lives and challenge us to be more aware of our surroundings.

Genea started The Ghost Bike Project because one can pass a memorial hundreds of times and eventually forget that it is there to commemorate a human life. Some of her photographs are of just the Ghost Bikes and some are a combination of Ghost Bikes with images of live people, shot in her studio and manipulated through Photoshop to look like ghosts. The resulting images remind us to keep each other safe and represent a spirit that is no longer with us.

Over time, many Ghost Bikes have been removed. Genea hopes this project will help the memorials and their sentiment live on. She has shot Ghost Bikes in over 45 cities and is in the process of creating a book.


Exhibition Dates / Times
Exhibition Dates: September 1 – October 5, 2013
Artist Reception: Wednesday, September 11th, 6:00 – 10:00pm
Café / Gallery Hours: 7:00am – 6:00pm daily

Location
Dogpatch Café and Art Gallery, 2295 3rd Street, San Francisco CA 94107

The Ghost Bike exhibition and reception are free and open to the public.
For further information please call John Warner at (415) 269-5566 or visit http://www.dogpatchcafe.com.