THE PORTAL OF Sutro Baths

by Lalin St. Juste

From the artist: “The Sutro Baths is considered one of San Francisco’s most historic tourist destinations. Everyday, it is a place where wedding photos are taken and where people enjoy the natural beauty and ruins that were created by Adolph Sutro. The history of this site begins with Sutro, a white millionaire. We are not privy to what the Ohlone peoples did on these shores. The site’s public information does not mention the 1897 court case in which a Black man named John Harris sued Adolph Sutro as a result of being denied access to the pools. Nor does it mention that he later won the case under the Dibble Civil Rights Act.

I’ll use the alchemy of sound and memory to shift the soundscape of this occupied land, collapsing the barriers between past and present to unveil the untold stories the shores have witnessed. As a Black, queer womxn standing on the symbols of wealth and occupation, I want to honor those who came before and those who have fallen through the cracks in the white lens of history.”

Lalin St. Juste’s roots meet at the crossroads of the Western world. She dances as sounds slither in her mouth; painting the world with words birthed from a spirit veined with ancestral magic. Commonly described as “mesmerizing” and “hypnotizing” when she performs, St. Juste shifts the atmosphere with her voice, inviting you into her cosmic underworld. Lalin has always been drawn to sound as a vehicle for healing.. At the age of six, she learned to sing through grief – intuitively using her body and her voice as a channel to access dimensions beyond the physical world. Her musical evolution included taking risks to season herself as a singer-songwriter – she spent months donning the guitar to play on sidewalks and cafes. The payoff was inspiring and Lalin joined Haitian folklore group Rara Tou Limen and co-founded Bay Area’s melodic sweethearts, The Seshen, a genre-expansive six-piece band who has shared stages with Hiatus Kaiyote, Ledisi, Tank and the Bangas, and more.

Now, Lalin has focused her time on developing and sharing her solo work robustly. 2020 was filled with achievements as Lalin received the Zoo Labs artist residency grant, the Gerbode Foundation Grant, and the Yerba Buena Garden Festival Arts Mini-Commission grant. In 2021 Lalin will release her debut solo recordings on 7000COILS, a queer + black-owned indie record label she co-founded with KKINGBOO centering the African diasporic experience through the creation of intentional and innovative digital and live portals. sound is gently complex. A range of familiar and unexpected experiences and emotions are continuously shared and easefully invite you in. There is space for all you feel in her offerings. More than a mood, she is both nostalgia and progress colliding in the present.

THE PORTAL OF Sutro Baths

by Lalin St. Juste

From the artist: “The Sutro Baths is considered one of San Francisco’s most historic tourist destinations. Everyday, it is a place where wedding photos are taken and where people enjoy the natural beauty and ruins that were created by Adolph Sutro. The history of this site begins with Sutro, a white millionaire. We are not privy to what the Ohlone peoples did on these shores. The site’s public information does not mention the 1897 court case in which a Black man named John Harris sued Adolph Sutro as a result of being denied access to the pools. Nor does it mention that he later won the case under the Dibble Civil Rights Act.

I’ll use the alchemy of sound and memory to shift the soundscape of this occupied land, collapsing the barriers between past and present to unveil the untold stories the shores have witnessed. As a Black, queer womxn standing on the symbols of wealth and occupation, I want to honor those who came before and those who have fallen through the cracks in the white lens of history.”

Lalin St. Juste’s roots meet at the crossroads of the Western world. She dances as sounds slither in her mouth; painting the world with words birthed from a spirit veined with ancestral magic. Commonly described as “mesmerizing” and “hypnotizing” when she performs, St. Juste shifts the atmosphere with her voice, inviting you into her cosmic underworld. Lalin has always been drawn to sound as a vehicle for healing.. At the age of six, she learned to sing through grief – intuitively using her body and her voice as a channel to access dimensions beyond the physical world. Her musical evolution included taking risks to season herself as a singer-songwriter – she spent months donning the guitar to play on sidewalks and cafes. The payoff was inspiring and Lalin joined Haitian folklore group Rara Tou Limen and co-founded Bay Area’s melodic sweethearts, The Seshen, a genre-expansive six-piece band who has shared stages with Hiatus Kaiyote, Ledisi, Tank and the Bangas, and more.

Now, Lalin has focused her time on developing and sharing her solo work robustly. 2020 was filled with achievements as Lalin received the Zoo Labs artist residency grant, the Gerbode Foundation Grant, and the Yerba Buena Garden Festival Arts Mini-Commission grant. In 2021 Lalin will release her debut solo recordings on 7000COILS, a queer + black-owned indie record label she co-founded with KKINGBOO centering the African diasporic experience through the creation of intentional and innovative digital and live portals. sound is gently complex. A range of familiar and unexpected experiences and emotions are continuously shared and easefully invite you in. There is space for all you feel in her offerings. More than a mood, she is both nostalgia and progress colliding in the present.