Synopsis:
The Door of Paradise, a massive gate set in front of the Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, becomes the impetus to reflect on the contrast between a life of confinement in the San Quentin State Prison and the freedom represented by the ocean nearby.
Last Spring on a rainy day, I took the ferry from Larkspur to San Francisco. The boat passed in front of the San Quentin State Prison. I thought about what life in that prison could be like. In the city, I walked up to Nob Hill where I saw the Doors of Paradise, a massive gate in front of the Grace Cathedral. Looking at the heads on the gilded panels, I started to imagine them talking to each other about the prison, but also about the nearby ocean.