The Office for the Study of the Ordinary

Photo: Claire S Burke

Objects of Inquiry: The Office for the Study of the Ordinary

February 22 ➽ April 5, 2025
San Francisco State University Fine Arts Gallery
San Francisco, CA

In the most austere confines of the public university, where bureaucracy seems to have banished all possibility of wonder, the Office for the Study of the Ordinary materializes. Our office brings together unconventional researchers trained to understand the poet's mission: summoning beauty where it seems to have no right to exist. We are not only committed to finding awe in our surroundings but also to having the courage to explore the hidden corners of our own lives: dreams postponed by dwindling institutional resources, small triumphs hidden between paperwork, and vulnerabilities usually left out of the curriculum.

We are archaeologists of today, uncovering the seemingly insignificant (the places and moments we all experience but no one documents) and our personal stories, turning each discovery into art. Our work connects the institutional and the intimate, the administrative and the confessional. It shows that the driest reality holds secrets only revealed to those willing to look twice at what most people ignore, starting with oneself.

The Office for the Study of the Ordinary has a unique mission: to show that art can emerge even from the greyest corners of the institution, but only if we dare to look closely enough.

-Liz Hernández, Lead Researcher

O.S.O. ID card, PVC, digital print, holographic elements, 3.375” x 2.125”, 2025

The Office for the Study of the Ordinary was supported by the Harker Fund at the San Francisco Foundation. Established by Ann Chamberlain in 2005, the fund awards grants to projects that bridge artistic practice and community engagement.

We focused on investigating the everyday and documenting hidden narratives through objects, images, and writing. Our goal was to foster cross-disciplinary collaboration, vulnerability, curiosity, and experimentation. The residency at San Francisco State University was a 12-month appointment culminating in an on-campus exhibition featuring documentation of the physical office, processes, artifacts, and printed materials.

During this time, I worked with over 150 students on collaborative creative exercises exploring their lives both inside and outside San Francisco State University. The resulting works, while deeply personal, resonated with wider communities and narratives. For a select number of projects, I took a different approach, inviting students and professors to become characters in my creative conspiracy.

Researchers in the field #24, Silver Gelatin Print, 11” x 14”

Researchers in the field #17, Silver Gelatin Print, 11” x 14

Researchers in the field #23, Silver Gelatin Print, 11” x 14

Researchers in the field #10, Silver Gelatin Print, 11” x 14

Researchers in the field #25, Silver Gelatin Print, 11” x 14

Researchers in the field #21, Silver Gelatin Print, 11” x 14

Researchers in the field #22, Silver Gelatin Print, 11” x 14

Photo: Claire S Burke

Researchers in the Field

Series of silver Gelatin prints
2024-2025

In collaboration with Miko Alves, James Gamboa, Sophie Green, Maggie Hellberg, Summer Ingalls, Sisi Ivy, Daniella Krynsky, Breanna Lanney, Heidi Leiva, Sean McFarland, Maria Fernanda Mejia Palma, Maple Stewart, and Angela Valero.

Throughout the year, I invited groups of students to assume the role of researchers. Using magnifying glasses and measuring tools, they explored their school campus with fresh eyes. I documented their discoveries as they responded to O.S.O. prompts and created art in studio settings.

The documentation reveals a transformation. By adopting the language of formal research, with its emblems, uniforms, and tools, and infusing the process with humor, curiosity, and play, we discovered new ways of engaging with our surroundings. The exercise fostered not only observation but also a sustained practice of wonder, which transformed both the observers and the observed.

O.S.O. IDs

130 PVC cards, digital print, holographic elements
3.375” x 2.125” each
2024-2025

In collaboration with 130 registered researchers.

To join the O.S.O., students completed an application form that required their names, contact information, and most significantly, a selection of their preferred role within the group. Each choice revealed aspects of self-perception that school settings often overlook. Some selected playful titles, while others chose more serious or ambitious roles. Many expressed surprise at the opportunity to define themselves on their own terms.

To formalize their membership, I photographed each student in our uniform and produced an ID card featuring organizational logos, holographic security elements, and security stamps. Students kept their IDs as evidence of their new identity, while I archived copies to document both the project and this collection of imagined identities.

Photo: Ryan Whelan

Photo: Liz Hernández

Photo: Claire S Burke

Photo: Liz Hernández

Photo: Claire S Burke

The Gator Group

Staged photographs, altered artifacts, forged printed material, papier-mâché sculpture

In collaboration with Coda Concannon, Zach Distefano, Mariela Esquivel, James Gamboa, Liz Haydon, Sisi Ivy, Miles Keeton, Kualii, Breanna Lanney, Heidi Leiva, Maria Fernanda Mejia Palma, Clara Sperow, Peyton Thornton, Julian Torres, Natalia Rodriguez, and Ryan Whelan.

Every university has its myths, but few match the tale of an alligator who became an unlikely symbol of student resistance. This installation explores the 1976 protest where students fought to free Al, their school mascot. Through 36 drawings, recovered artifacts, and the original papier-mache sculpture, the researchers showcase this moment in San Francisco State history. It is part of the legacy of resistance that lives on in every student who walks these halls-whether they know it or not.

The Gator Group explores a fictional 1976 protest movement, imaginary yet rooted in the spirit of San Francisco State's history of student activism. The story centered on a group of students who fought to free Al, their school mascot. Although the movement never occurred, it draws inspiration from moments in SFSU history: the Third World Liberation Front strikes of 1968-69, the university's alligator mascot tradition, and documented instances of two baby alligators making appearances at campus events during the 1940s.

Using staged photos, altered artifacts, forged printed material, and a handmade papier-mâché alligator sculpture, the speculative archive reimagines what such a moment might have looked like. It’s part historical fiction, part creative homage. It blends real moments and imagined details into a story that could belong in an era shaped by student activism and demands for change.

Photo: Claire S Burke

Maria Dolores Rodriguez

Clara Sperow

Photo: Claire S Burke

Liz Hernández

Clara Sperow

Photo: Claire S Burke

Clara Sperow & Liz Hernández

Tess Brown

Joseph Peralta

V Vang

Mary Lou Grace Robison and Libby Black

Sophia Leighton

V Vang

Photo: Claire S Burke

March of the Gator
Acrylic on paper
2025

In collaboration with Kimberly Alarcon, Camille Bennett, Libby Black, Nicole Bouthillier, Rylee Brown, Tess Brown, Zoe Carrella, Bridget Cossu, Mikayla Hall, Qiqi (Kiki) Huang, Miles Keeton, Sophia Leighton, Uzziel B. Hercules Martinez, Lilith Mintz, Jaeden Nguyen, Tiffany Nguyen, Nanako Nirei, Joseph Peralta, Alex Reyes, Mary Lou Grace Robison, Maria Dolores Rodriguez, Sosa, Clara Sperow, V Vang, and Roheen Zada.

For two months, we worked on illustrating the complete short story March of the Gator, a narrative based on my work with The Gator Group. Each participant chose a scene from the story and incorporated the selected sentence to ground their work in the text. To ensure visual cohesion across all paintings, we established character designs and worked within a shared limited color palette. This allowed us to achieve a unified aesthetic that tied our diverse painting styles together. The finished illustrations are displayed in sequence, which were ultimately paired with photographs and artifacts from The Gator Group.

Together, the illustrated narrative adds credibility to the fabricated archive, blurring the boundary between documentation and imagination, with each element reinforcing the possibility of a protest that never was.

Photo: Claire S Burke

Archive of Dreams

Inket print on library catalog cards
2024-2025

In collaboration with over 100 anonymous participants.

The Archive contains dreams collected from 2024 to 2025, featuring submissions from approximately 100 participants. Using QR codes placed strategically across campus and surrounding areas, I gathered anonymous dream submissions and developed a cataloging system to organize and share them with the public.