Sydney Cain, aka sage stargate, is a visual artist born and raised in San Francisco. Her work has been a reflection of an unseen reality we experience. Cain produces works on paper largely using dye, lithography, graphite and chalk as emblems of impermanence and transformation. These specific materials act as ciphers to assist decoding these “unseen realities.” Graphite, as the element carbon, represents the possibilities of forming into new allotropes. Chalk and carbon based material, commonly formed from the shells of ancient deep marine organisms acts as a medium of spiral time theories. Though time and earth assures that all changes through stages of death and rebirth, the existence of that essential matter, is everlasting. Within her work, the unseen presence of the deceased become a focal point to the audience. A told story of suffering transforms into a remembrance of spiritual evolution, healing, and wisdom for people of African descent. Thus, those who have passed on have the space to become reborn as heroes again through the images thus creating a new reality. Her current work is founded on researching her family’s genealogy alongside the effects urban development and displacement have on the individual.

Sydney Cain has exhibited throughout the Bay Area including SOMArts, City College of San Francisco, Betti Ono Gallery, San Francisco Arts Commission, and the African American Arts and Culture Complex.

For additional art by Sydney, contact Heather Carter.