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Fire Safety: Coordinates: Dispatch, 2026
The works in the Safety series address the uncertainty of our surroundings and how we as humans try to protect ourselves from that uncertainty, sometimes in ways that are absurd. Pavement sits between us and the earth. Borders are drawn and redrawn, traced and retraced. Signs and barriers warn us of dangers we may or may not be able to avoid. What are we warning and advising against? What are we watching for? Who is and is not protected by these cautionary measures?
The Coordinates: Dispatch space was once a fire dispatch hub, coordinating emergency services in Sacramento. This wheat-pasted installation and zine contain fire safety images I have collected in my travels. This work responds both to the site’s history and to the architecture and contents of the hallway it inhabits, including a prominent fire extinguisher and fire extinguisher sign.
Purchase the Zine here
Summer Ventis’s work uses the printed surface to address internal and external landscapes and their intersections; the imprints we leave on each other and our surroundings and the imprints that our surroundings leave on us. She received a BA in Art from Grinnell College and an MFA in Printmaking from the University of Colorado Boulder. Her work has appeared in national and international exhibitions and is held by collections including those of the Denver Art Museum and Proyecto ’ace in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is a member of the Colorado-based collectives Hyperlink and ARTNAUTS and of Sacramento-based Axis Gallery and is Associate Professor of Printmaking at California State University Sacramento.
@summerventis | www.summerventis.com