Fellowship for Black Artists

Allegra Yvonne Gia is a visual artist whose practice includes film, painting, illustration, and animation. Her style of work is influenced by pop culture, Afro-futurism, and surrealism.

Anne Adams (born 1993) is a multidisciplinary artist from Nigeria. She received her MFA from the Tyler School of Art and Architecture in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In recent years, Adams has participated in shows in the USA, UK, France, and Africa. She has participated in residences including Haystack Mountain School of Craft’s open studio residency and the Watershed Center for ceramic art.Adams has shown in Fairs including the Salon Revelation Biennial in Paris, Art X Lagos, 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in London, and NADA Miami and NADA New York. She is a recipient of the NCECA Multicultural fellowship 2023 and the Simone Leigh Zenobia award 2023. She was recognized by the Lagos State Government as one of the 100 women making a change in Lagos, Nigeria, for her contribution to the arts.

Diyaaldin Kelley is a visual artist with a unique background as a former professional basketball player. Blending precision and emotion, he specializes in portrait painting and the creation of custom frames that elevate each piece into a one-of-a-kind experience. His work is rooted in storytelling, capturing not just likeness but the spirit of his subjects.Off the canvas, Diyaaldin enjoys photography and has a passion for collecting vintage cameras—a pursuit that informs his artistic eye and deepens his appreciation for form, light, and composition.Whether through brushstrokes or lens, Diyaaldin is constantly exploring new ways to frame the human experience.

Jazlyne Sabree (b. 1990, New Jersey) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Philadelphia. She received her Bachelor’s in Art from Clark Atlanta University, an HBCU in Atlanta, GA, where she studied art and journalism. She then went on to become an art educator, returning to college to receive her Master’s in Art Education at Boston University. She received her Master’s in Fine Art at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. She is a recipient of the Clark Atlanta University Art Guild Award, the Linda Lora Pugliese Award for Excellence in Art Education, the PAFA Venture Fund Grant, MassMoCA Artist Residency, and the AACC Fellowship at the Montclair Art Museum.Additionally, she has been featured on platforms such as News 12, WHYY, several podcasts such as The Truth in this Art, and in many publications. She was also awarded a teaching artist residency in Monrovia, Liberia, in West Africa at the Cachelle International Creative Arts Center, as well as the Casa Na Ilha Artist Residency in Ilhabela, São Paolo, Brazil. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Waldemar Belisário Museum in Ilhabela, São Paolo, Brazil, and the PAFA Museum in Philadelphia, along with many other private collections.

Jermaine Ollivierre was born and raised in West Philadelphia. He survived the 1985 MOVE bombing, which significantly impacted his upbringing and art practice. Ollivierre earned his AFA at DCCC in 2013 and received his BFA in Sculpture at Temple University’s Tyler School of Art in 2021. He recently graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University, known for its top-ranked Graduate Sculpture program in the country, with an MFA degree in Sculpture and Extended Media.Ollivierre’s work centers on those who have been misunderstood and rejected by society. He addresses the complex American landscape, depicting both beautiful and deplorable moments intertwined in society. Through his work, Ollivierre creates opportunities for dialogue using his experience in urban, rural, and suburban environments as source material to dissolve inflexible viewpoints.His work has been exhibited at various prestigious galleries and institutions, including the 1708 Gallery in Richmond, VA, The Anderson Gallery at Virginia Commonwealth University, The Automat Collective, The Stella Elkins Tyler Gallery, The Art Gallery at Delaware County Community College, The Mural Arts Gallery, The Asian Arts Initiative, Philadelphia’s City Hall Art Exhibition, and The Da Vinci Art Alliance. His work has also been featured in publications and interviews such as The Artblog, DCCC’s Ignite Magazine 2022-23 issue, WHYY, Queens Tribune, Call and Response Journal, DCCC’s The Communitarian, and The Tab. Jermaine Ollivierre currently lives and works in Pennsylvania, where he serves as a faculty member in the Art Foundation program at Delaware County Community College.

Kameo Chambers (Philadelphia, PA) is a Jamaican American conceptual artist, filmmaker, and curator who reimagines cultural memory and perception through digital and physical assemblages. Working with mediums such as AR/VR, glass, photogrammetry, and print, her archive-based practice creates surreal, hyper-realized landscapes that interrogate autonomy, material culture, and the aesthetics of Black femme embodiment.Her work has been exhibited at Kungliga Musikhögskolan (Sweden), Cultural DC, Grace Exhibition Space (NYC), Brooklyn Free Speech TV (NYC), The Institute of Electronic Arts (NY), Vox Populi (PA), and the University of Pittsburgh (PA), among others. She has been recognized as a Vira I. Heinz Scholar and awarded First Place with Special Merit from the American Scholastic Press Association (2021–22). Chambers holds a BA in Interdisciplinary Arts from the University of Pittsburgh and an MFA in Electronic Integrated Arts from Alfred University. Her work is a part of the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford’s public collection and she was recently an artist-in-residence at the Keyes Residency (ME).

Keiko Bisa Elan El is a South Jersey-born (Philly-based) multi-disciplinary artist, archivist, and film photographer, who takes an anthropological approach in creating transcendent realities.Inspired by films with valor and fantasy-centered themes that she would watch with her late father (The Black Cauldron, The NeverEnding Story, and The Pagemaster, to name a few) and directors like Guillermo Del Toro, Hayao Miyazaki, and M. Night Shyamalan, Keiko finds comfort in everyday storytelling.Through her practice, she’s established an intuitive process that allows her to alchemize her imagination into a cinematic universe. She believes valuable storytelling builds on an intimate connection between an artist’s vision and the parallel of their lived experiences and ancestral memory.Keiko stands feet planted at the intersection of Black femininity, pleasure, and spirituality, and she takes immense pride in unifying these pieces of herself to evoke an emotional response through her work.She invites her audience to interpret her visual practice and the beauty of nuance, in tandem, as she re-imagines the world with a more expansive lens.

ASHY ARTT is a visual artist from Jacksonville, Florida currently working in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His work deals with the black experience, pop culture, community, as well as the intersections of emotion and the body autonomy of his subject.These concepts are explored via ESPIONAGE, a narrative series of paintings. Set in a world undergoing a silent genocide, its protagonist is taken from his family and used as a weapon. ESPIONAGE presents a story symbolic of internal struggle and growth in a world so corrupt. The viewer is shown various ways “the game” is played.

Levester Williams (b. Lansing, MI) is a sculptor whose praxis is deeply rooted in aesthetic and critical inquiries into modes of existence and existing. Questions arising from the politics and poetics of identity, space/place, and boundary congeal into forms of sculptures, installations, drawings, sound, code, and the moving image.Williams received an MFA in Sculpture + Extended Media from Virginia Commonwealth University, a Master of Computer and Information Technology from the University of Pennsylvania, and a BFA in Art and Design from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. His works have been included in exhibitions at San José Museum of Art, San José, CA; N’Namdi Center for Contemporary Art, Detroit, MI; Institute for Contemporary Art, Richmond, VA; and, among others, Museum of African Design, Johannesburg, South Africa. His selected residencies include Skowhegan’s School of Painting and Sculpture, Madison, Maine; Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, Vermont; and the Bag Factory, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Prince De León is a 24-year-old painter from Monrovia, Liberia, who holds a B.F.A with honors from the University of the Arts. Her artistic practice is deeply rooted in material exploration and Black reclamation art. She draws inspiration from renowned artists such as Gerald Lovell, Amoako Boafo, Kerry James Marshall, and Zanele Muholi, whose expressive portrayals of Black figures and culture resonate strongly in her work.Like these artists, De León masterfully conveys the physicality and essence of her materials, emphasizing that Blackness is multifaceted, intricate, and profoundly beautiful. During her time at university, she achieved academic excellence, including a place on the Dean’s List and prestigious honors such as a nomination to apply to the Yale Norfolk School of Art.Her work has been exhibited in notable shows, including the Germantown Art and Sound pop-up show, the UArts Art Alliance, and the 2024 Bridgette Mayer Benefit Exhibition. Prince envisions continuing to showcase her work both across the United States and internationally.

Temple Douglass (b. 2000, Columbus, GA) is a Philadelphia-based artist working primarily with the figure. Her charcoal drawings are explorations of isolation, melancholy, and introspection, featuring intimate and quiet imagery of people important to her. Temple received a BFA in Drawing and Painting from the University of Georgia in 2023 and is the AXA Art Prize 2 nd Prize Winner for that year. Her work has been published in Black Art Magazine and Stillpoint Literary Magazine. Her recent exhibitions include The Female Gaze at Da Vinci Art Alliance and With All My Heart at The People’s Gallery in Philadelphia.

Tina (she/they) is a self-taught artist, born and raised in Philadelphia. They explore digital illustration and accessible creativity as a practice for healing and disruption.

Tee Taylor is a Philadelphia-born artist known for her bold, three-dimensional artwork that redefines traditional portraiture. Raised in West Philadelphia and inspired by her grandmother, a professional painter, Tee began her artistic journey at a young age. By sixteen, she was hand-binding books and creating pop-up art, foreshadowing her passion for layered, tactile storytelling. She honed her skills at the Creative and Performing Arts High School and later at Moore College of Art and Design, where she developed her signature style. But after school, life took her in a different direction- Tee stepped away from canvas for nearly 20 years. It wasn’t until the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic that she picked up the brush again. Fueled by a renewed purpose, Tee left her job and returned to art full-time, reigniting her creative fire and taking the art world by storm.As the founder of Taylored Faces, Tee offers creative services like face painting, balloon twisting, live painting, and mural creation. Her striking, dimensional portraits are deeply emotive and visually captivating, often blurring the lines between painting and sculpture.Her work has been featured in the Athenaeum of Philadelphia, Urban Art Gallery, and A Community Gallery, Sixth Street District museums (Eureka School), earning her recognition as a powerful voice in Philadelphia’s Contemporary Art Scene.

Zakia M. Elliott is an organizer, educator, facilitator, artist, and Philadelphia-native working within the intersections of the environmental justice, climate justice, and food and land justice movements. She is Co-Director of Soil Generation, a Black & Brown grassroots agroecology collective of women and farmers, and organizers working for food and land justice in Philadelphia.As an artist, Zakia engages in the transformative healing practice of self-reflection through self-portraiture. Over the years, she has cultivated a ritual of introspection through her figurative art and the exploration of various mediums to express her evolving self-conception. This artistic practice has been instrumental in regulating her emotions and navigating the complexities of her experiences as a Black woman striving for liberation and justice. Through her art, Zakia finds grounding in her spirit and truth.”I see my art practice as inseparable from my movement work and commitment to building toward liberation. My passion for self-portraiture is a radical practice of self-love and acceptance. I return to self-portraits and offer it as a tool to uproot the internalized capitalist pattern of perpetual striving for change, growth, and action—a mindset often embraced by many changemaking kinfolk—by encouraging stillness, vulnerability, and devotion through its creation.”

Brittany Anne Baum, born and bred in the vibrant tapestry of Camden, New Jersey, carries the soul of her hometown within her artistic expressions. Now rooted in Philadelphia, Baum’s work stands as a testament to the resilience and beauty of her community, speaking volumes through every stroke of her brush.

Baum’s solo exhibitions are not mere displays of art; they are immersive experiences where emotions dance, and stories unfold, inviting viewers to delve into the heart of the Philadelphia Region. Each canvas serves as a portal, capturing the essence and untold narratives of the city she holds dear.

Her talent hasn’t gone unnoticed; Baum’s artistic prowess has earned her numerous awards and grants, solidifying her status as a trailblazer in the art world. But her impact extends beyond gallery walls; she breathes life into urban spaces through her contributions to public art projects, enriching the fabric of the community.

While Baum’s work shines brightly in solo endeavors, it also finds resonance in group exhibitions, showcasing the vibrancy of contemporary culture and the power of artistic expression. Yet, her dedication transcends personal acclaim; she shares her expertise generously through workshops, nurturing aspiring artists and empowering them to find their own voice.

Through collaborations with various organizations, Baum champions art as a vehicle for positive change and community engagement, embodying her commitment to fostering connection and transformation. Her journey and the stories she articulates have captured the attention of prestigious publications and media outlets, illuminating her creative odyssey and the kaleidoscopic narratives she weaves.

In Brittany Anne Baum’s art, the boundaries between past, present, and future blur, seamlessly intertwining to create a resplendent tapestry of color and emotion. With each stroke, she invites viewers on a voyage of discovery and connection, where art becomes a bridge for understanding and unity.

Duwenavue Sante Johnson is a BIPOC artist with a rich heritage spanning both the northern and southern regions of the United States over the past four centuries. This diverse upbringing has significantly shaped Johnson’s artistic lens, fostering a relentless quest for equilibrium, aesthetic allure, and steadiness within her masterpieces.

Possessing exceptional talent in hand embroidery and contemporary art, Johnson does not limit herself to any single medium. Instead, her artistic style is a beautiful tapestry woven from her extensive travels, absorbing a spectrum of hues, environmental motifs, and textures from every corner of the globe. Johnson ingeniously merges a variety of painting and textile methods, harmonizing the wisdom acquired from formal instruction with the cultural elements that have molded her character.

In her role as an educator and expert in needle arts, she dedicates her energy to the meticulous and elaborate details embedded in Heraldry. Johnson generously imparts her expertise on the symbolic foundational principles, design formulation, and stitching methods, while accentuating the importance of artisanship in her presentations.
Johnson’s journey towards becoming an artist was fueled by her mixed-race heritage and the experience of seldom encountering individuals with similar backgrounds. This propelled her to seek avenues for forging connections with others through the medium of creativity.

Elijah Crawford is the co-founder and Director for Ugly Art. Elijah’s career has led him from modeling on billboards to being featured in multiple magazines including Essence, The Cut, & Insider for his creative direction and fashion. His true passion however, has always lied on the other side of the camera. Although he never went to film school, his vision is a tapestry of movies, television shows, and art exhibitions that he’s studied intensely over the years. With a knack for creativity and a heavy focus on colors, style and composition, he has cultivated an aesthetic that engulfs you into a fascinating world of his own creation. His style can be best described as giving you a sense of nostalgia for a moment you haven’t experienced.

Kara Mshinda (b. 1978) is a visual anthropologist who creates photo-based artworks about identity, memory, and embodiment in public spaces. Mshinda is an alumna of Temple University (‘07) and is best known for using collage, collaborative portraiture, and alternative photo processes to document graffiti, children at play, candid social encounters, and the material culture of daily life. Mshinda is a Principal Collaborator of GrioXArts, a studio-based space at Cherry Street Pier that focuses on building community via process-based art education.

Keshawna Logan is an award-winning visual artist and educator based in Philadelphia. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from the University Of The Arts, and her work has been nationally exhibited. Her paintings frequently reflect how she perceives and feels nature in her dreams. Her artwork investigates her curiosities and fascination with the grandeur and intelligence of the natural world. She aims to explore the mysticisms of our subconscious and examine how ecosystems and humans interact, considering how living circumstances impact collective mental health.

Mello Dixon, is a trailblazing designer and artist making waves in the wearable art realm. With his company, Greatness Was When…! He is revolutionizing the art scene with his fresh and captivating twist. He has swiftly become one of the most sought-after talents in the industry.

With extraordinary talent he has been showcased at prestigious events and galleries worldwide, including Art Basel Miami and esteemed venues in London, NYC, Los
Angeles, and Hawaii. His art stands out due to its interactive nature, attracting high-profile clients such as Drake, Kylie Jenner, and Future. His most recent accomplishment was being a
part of a Super Bowl Commercial and several segment commercials by Geico.

Now embarking on his most thrilling venture yet, a Mobile Art Gallery. This innovative
concept allows him to bring his exceptional artwork to people from all walks of life, just like
an ice cream truck delivering joy! With

Originally from the Dominican Republic, LUSMERLIN is a multidisciplinary artist and chemical engineer with a background in textile and cement manufacturing.  She currently splits her time between Philadelphia, PA and Columbia, MD and exhibits her work nationally. LUSMERLIN’s works across media share a thematic interest: womanhood, dance, the transformation of immigration, and the scenes of daily life that accompany her journey of re-discovery. LUSMERLIN’s approach to work borrows from Caribbean values, where it’s more important that a person “pops” in a room, rather than blend in.

Michele Pierson (b. 1993) is a contemporary painter born and raised in Philadelphia, PA. Michele obtained her B.A. in Studio Art and Art History from Spelman College and has maintained an active studio practice alongside a fulfilling career in nonprofit arts fundraising.

Drawing inspiration from surrealist and metaphysical painting, Michele’s paintings fuse earthly and cosmic elements into surreal, metaphysical landscapes and portraits. Utilizing strategic color choices and symbolic motifs like stars and mirrors and windows, Michele invites viewers on introspective journeys, encouraging contemplation of fate, life’s interconnectedness, and the boundless expanses of existence.

“Embedded within my artistic philosophy is a belief in the transformative power of understanding our interconnected existence as a catalyst for resistance against oppressive systems. I posit that a rich comprehension of life’s interdependence serves as the bedrock for ethical behavior and compassion. Through the medium of painting, I extend an invitation to viewers—a call to engage in profound contemplation and unveil their individual relationships to the interconnected web that envelops us all.”

Nasir Young received his BFA from Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Art in 2021. Nasir
is currently represented by Gross McCleaf Gallery in Philadelphia. In 2020 he was
awarded The Raymond D. & Estelle Rubens Travel Scholarship to go to London. Young
was awarded an illuminate arts grant in 2021 and 2022, and a 2024 Elizabeth greenshields
grant recipient. He was the Second place winner of the Philadelphia Sketch Club 158th
exhibition of small oils, a 2022 Davinci Art Alliance Resident, and 2023 Delaware
Contemporary resident. Nasir’s primary source of imagery is the everyday scenes of
urban inner city life is influenced by the shared visual language between places. He had his
first solo show in February of 2024 ,and has had multiple group shows around the
Philadelphia region.

Qiaira Riley is an interdisciplinary artist, researcher, educator and cultural worker, from Chicago’s south-side, and based in Philadelphia. She holds a dual B.A. in Black Studies and Studio Art from Lake Forest College, as well as an M.F.A in Socially Engaged Studio Art from Moore College of Art and Design. She is a founding member of 2.0, a Philadelphia based collective that curates free, experimental offerings for Black femmes and women. Her 2021 self-published, MFA-thesis-turned zine “How Tiffany Pollard Built the Internet: Representations of Simulacra, Virtuality and Black Women and Femmes on the Internet and its Art” is a part of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection. She is the host of “Something You Can Feel”, a contemporary Black art history podcast. Her creative practice shifts between painting, ceramics, artist books, video, and alternative photography and transfer techniques. Her work explores and is influenced by Black archival practices; the visual language of Chicago’s south-side,cooking phenomenology; vernacular interiors; storytelling; familial artifacts and reality tv. Qiaira was the January 2024 Resident at Our House Culture Center, showcasing her debut solo exhibition Beauty of the Week, a series of works created as the 2023 Leeway Foundation X Fleisher Art Memorial Artist in Residence.She is currently the artist partner with the Friends of the Tanner House, supporting creative opportunities to envision the future of the historic Henry O. Tanner House in North Philadelphia.

Ronald L. Washington earned his B.F.A. in Illustration from the University of the Arts. R.L. Washington’s work has been showcased in numerous galleries, including Moody Jones Gallery, Dizyners Gallery, Sande Webster Gallery, and the Artists House Gallery. His exhibitions have also extended to esteemed institutions such as the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Gallery Museum, Temple University, the Afro-American Art Museum, Hampton University, the Balch Institute, the Free Library of Philadelphia, Villanova University, and the African American Museum Fair Park in Dallas, TX, among others. His artistry has been featured in several publications, including Mothers: A Loving Celebration (Courage Books) and I Am Your Strength (XLIBRIS US). He has also been featured twice in the International Review of African American Art. With paintings held in private collections worldwide, R.L. Washington continues to make a profound impact on the art world through his evocative and celebrated work.

As an illustrator and designer, Shahvteeaylah Williams (Shahv) enjoys creating vibrant, expressive artwork and colorful wearables. She is a mixed-media artist who prefers working with acrylic ink and colored pencils, before polishing designs digitally.

She completed her BFA in Illustration at the University of the Arts in 2021 and currently works as a freelancer and Young Artist Instructor for Moore College of Art & Design. Since graduating, she has been selected as a 2023 InLiquid Wind Fellow, had her work displayed at the InLiquid Gallery in Philadelphia, and has been the featured artist in the April 2023 issue of Surface Design News.

Her work is inspired by comics, animation, nature, and fashion. In her practice, she is driven to depict the world around her through a lens of joy and silliness; often creating art to process difficult personal experiences and paint an authentic, relatable, and refreshing portrait of black womanhood.

When not working, she can be found at the roller rink, her local coffee shop, or hanging out in the many green spaces in Philadelphia.

Susan Ragland is a self-taught artist whose focus has been to unwaveringly create joyful
images of Black people affirming their human connections. Amidst bursts of color and
intricate designs, her paintings seek to examine the humanity of Black subjects while
paradoxically depicting the ordinary: African Americans as regular folk, sans the presence
of historical trauma. Her work aims to imbue majestic feelings in viewers who have
experienced a questioning of their being and beckon others to identify universally-shared
Joy.

She has had a 30-year career creating and selling art largely outside of the conventional art
circuits. Through private exhibits and by word of mouth, her art has found its way into the
permanent acquisitions of major art collectors throughout the U.S. including the Colored
Girls’ Museum; a long-time host of ABC’s The View; professional athletes; George
Washington University, Temple University; various on-air news pundits, and in the homes
of regular folks.

Recent exhibits include the Woodmere Museum Annual 82nd Juried Exhibition; Montclair Art
Museum’s Juneteenth Exhibit, and the Philadelphia Magic Gardens.

Terrell Halsey is a visual artist and photographer based in Philadelphia, PA. With a BFA in Film & Media Arts from Temple University, he transferred his knowledge of the camera from cinematography to still imagery. As an artist, he fuses street, conceptual, documentary, and portraiture to create visual experiences of humanity and better contextualize the world around and within him. He seeks to progress the voice and representation of Black and Brown people and use his craft to spark conversations. Halsey has been featured in numerous art exhibitions while also curating experiences himself. Most recently, he was featured in the Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy’s juried exhibition titled Philadelphia Black History: The People’s Stories at City Hall (Philadelphia 2024), and was a Keystone Award Honorable Mention for the Silver Eye Center For Photography 2023 Fellowship (Pittsburgh). His work has been mentioned in Aesthetica Magazine, Broad Street Review, Artblog, and is privately collected.

What I am most interested in as an artist is painting black figures and placing them in environments. Although I draw inspiration from looking at old masterworks, I’m upset when the people in those paintings don’t look like me or many of the people that I know. I hope to bridge that gap and give black people images that they can relate to in some way without it making an overt political statement; instead showing figures in leisure or doing the mundane and the ordinary.

I want my work to intrigue the viewer for its technical aspect and for its the content. I want my art to be meaningful and have layered narratives that people can dive into. I find the most authentic way to do this is through self-portraiture and referencing my own experiences. I use myself as a reference for my paintings because I know myself deeply and I believe it’s important to examine your own life.

Born in Georgetown, D.C. in 1992, Darryl Babatunde Smith started making art as a way of interpreting foreign languages as opposed to translating them in English. He studied French, German, and Latin in high school and later began to learn Ancient and Modern Greek on his own. He studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where he completed his BFA in Painting, and at the New York Academy of Art where he obtained his MFA in Drawing an Anatomy. Through Darryl’s knowledge of Latin and Greek he immerses himself in antiquity. He uses Greco-Roman symbols and traditional Renaissance techniques such as silverpoint drawing and egg tempera painting to connect personal narratives with Greco-Roman ideologies and philosophies.

His works have been exhibited nationally (Philadelphia, Hillsdale, New York City) and internationally in Reykjavík, Iceland and Athens, Greece. Darryl is currently based in Philadelphia where he is the first Artist-in-Residence at Studio Incamminati.

DeJeonge Reese (she/her) is a black female, visual artist, educator and art advocate from Yeadon, Pennsylvania. She uses her art and creativity to stimulate new and on-going conversations on the various facets of identity within the black community. I am a visual artist whose passions led me to explore the various facets of identity, specifically the body and beauty ideals among women of color. My inspiration is drawn from my identity as a Black woman, especially regarding the past and present discourse surrounding Black hair and beauty expectations. When I started to re-identify myself through my natural hair, I became impacted enough to explore these themes and ideas through my art. I mine these themes through mediums such as mixed media sculpture, installations, and performances. By fusing themes and ideas from both the past and present; my art explores various connotations surrounding black hair and beauty expectations. Therefore, contributing to on-going conversations on cultural identity as African Americans.ighlights these intersections through her passion for experimenting with a variety of mediums and materials.

German Ayala Vazquez is a photographer and visual artist originally hailing from Bayamón, Puerto Rico, raised in New York City and now based in Philadelphia. His artistic practice encompasses a diverse range of photographic styles, including fashion, conceptual, and photojournalistic approaches. Vazquez’s primary aim is to illuminate and uplift the narratives and experiences of BIPOC LGBTQIA+ individuals worldwide, with a particular emphasis on regions historically affected by colonization.
Notable among his recent clientele are esteemed entities such as Condé Nast, Apple, Barrons Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine, Shutterstock, and many More

His educational background includes a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in photography from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Over the course of his career, he’s garnered awards and grants from renowned institutions such as Profoto, Nikon, the Shutterstock Creator Fund, Creative PHL Illuminate the Arts, and Wacom. Recognized as a 2023 DEAI Alumni Awards Recipient, and finalist in the 2022 Lens culture Portrait Awards have earned features in numerous publications, including PhotoVogue.

His personal artistic endeavors have been widely showcased through various exhibitions, most notably the 2024 Black Art Biannual , British Journal of Photography’s 2021 Home Exhibition, and the Humble Arts Foundation.

Jasmine lynea is a non-binary filmmaker, educator and futurist radically dreaming outside of this reality. Curious about what lives between truth and myth, through their vibrant imagination, lynea presents unconventional ideas that have the possibility of becoming attainable in a liberating future.

After graduating from Temple University, jasmine self-produced and directed two short films that screened at several film festivals nationally– Take 5 and Stay Black, Baby! In 2018, jasmine established a new relationship with film, becoming a high-school film teacher at Samuel Fels. There they were awarded the Leeway Art and Change Grant to launch the Root and Branch Arts Festival. During this time they were also awarded the 2020 Scribe Philadelphia Media Fund to continue their work as a film director and writer for their experimental short film How to Survive a Mourning, which screened at WWCC 16th Annual Juried Art Exhibition and was granted an Honorable Mention Award in 2021. As a 2022 fellow for BlackStars Inaugural Philadelphia Filmmaker Lab, jasmine wrote, directed, and edited a new short sci-fi fantasy– The Love Machine. Since premiering at BlackStar’s Film Festival, the short film has been screened and is expected to screen at several film festivals both nationally and internationally. jasmine is a 2023 Mural Arts Fellow and a Flaherty Fellow participating in their Queer-World Mending program.

Jillian M Rock is a self-taught multidisciplinary artist based in Philadelphia. Her current personal practice focuses on the exploration of place and placemaking. Specifically, the intersection at which the past, present, and future play on the narratives of Blackness; and how memory is used to illuminate and deepen the human experience. Her teaching artist practice is centered in creating curricula around social justice, identity, and creating an experience that deepens community and encourages expression individually and most importantly collectively.

Rock has been an Artist in Residence at The Museum of Motherhood in St. Pete’s FL, a Feminist in Residence at Project for Empty Space in Newark, NJ, as well as a concurrent Risography Resident at Print St. Pete’s. She is an alumni of the Creative Capital’s Professional Development Program. Rock has served as an inaugural member of the Board of Directors at the Newark Print Shop, where she developed her passion for community programming and outreach through printmaking. Rock is currently teaching with The Print Center, ArtWell, and has been a teaching artist at Studio Montclair, The Newark Printshop, The Yard Art School at The Montclair Museum of Art, as well as freelancing workshops and classes. Most recently, she became the STEAM Coordinator at the Da Vinci Art Alliance.

She is the owner of Rock Press, a Black woman run printing press aimed at amplifying access to the creation and dissemination of artists’ books, printed matter, and programming. As well as, a co-founder of Collaborative Rising, an arts organization centered in providing access to a variety of programming, across all mediums and abilities by nurturing exploration through the arts. Rock is currently a member of Philadelphia Collageworks and a fellow with Mural Arts Fellowship for Black Artists.

Jordan Plain is a Philadelphia based creative skilled in many mediums. He uses graphic design, poetry, and photography tell stories, set a scene, and influence thought. He covers topics, from masculinity to gun violence and is not afraid to tackle topics other men shy away from.

He release a book entitled “A Comic By Jordan Plain” which is a amalgam of thought, minimalism, humor and poetry.

Based in Philadelphia, Kendra Dandy (b.1987) is a multidisciplinary artist known for creating colorful illustrations, cheeky, smile-inducing patterns and bold art featuring a variety of whimsical characters. Using familiar icons mixed with bold colors and patterns, she creates her own unique world that commands attention. Experimentation is at the forefront of Kendra’s creative practice and she fully believes in embracing imperfections, playing with odd combinations and using recurring themes in her work. Rotating between painting, printmaking and digital illustration on the iPad allows her versatility and freedom with mixing colors, ideas and forms.

Kendra’s unique creations have been sought after by top brands such as Marc Jacobs Fragrances, NYX Cosmetics, Anthropologie and Vans for collaborations spanning the categories of beauty, lifestyle, apparel and home decor. Drawing inspiration from all things vintage, nature, beauty, post impressionist art and her own moods, her genuine love for artistic playfulness shines through whether on a canvas or a perfectly designed product.

Marian Bailey is a self-taught contemporary artist whose work explores themes of memory, history, and identity through the use of mixed media, painting, and drawing. Bailey’s works are often characterized by her use of bold colors, gestural brushstrokes, and dynamic color blocking. At the heart of Bailey’s artistic practice is a fascination with the ways in which individuals and communities connect as a means to move through current time and into the future. Drawing on personal and collective histories, Bailey’s work investigates how memories and narratives are formed and transmitted across time and space. Bailey’s artwork often features images and symbols that reference her African American heritage and experiences. Through her use of visual language, Bailey seeks to disrupt traditional power structures and open up new dialogues around issues of race, gender, and culture. Ultimately, Bailey’s work is a celebration of the human experience and a testament to the power of art to inspire empathy, understanding, and social change. One of Bailey’s primary goals as an artist is to create art that is accessible and inclusive, welcoming viewers of all backgrounds and perspectives. She believes that art has the power to bring people together and to spark important conversations about the world around us.

Odochi Akwani is a film photographer originally from Omaha, Nebraska, but now based in Philadelphia. Odochi is a member of Diversify Photo’s Up Next collective. She uses the medium of photography to document the rhythms of everyday life. Her work is steered by a passion for visual storytelling through observation. Odochi holds a Bachelor of Journalism from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Shakira Hunt is a multi-disciplinary artist and branding photographer based in Philadelphia, PA. With her Interior Design & Architecture Experience [BFA in Interior Design], Shakira owns and operates Shakira Hunt Creative Studio. SHCS provides creative services including digital content creation for businesses + creative entrepreneurs. During the pandemic, Shakira Hunt developed a photography series titled “Give Me My Flowers” a fine arts project exploring Black men’s exploration with masculine & feminine energies. The work has been featured in 2 solo exhibitions/installations as well as a large-scale installation at Essence Fest in Collaboration with Planned Parenthood in 2022, where she revealed the next segment of work “Soft Petals”, an exploration of the mother-wound. In the last year, Shakira has continued to document and develop the series, expand her work into the public art sector as an experiential curator, and strives to continue to build community and connection through her work.

Shanina dionna (she/they) is a visual and performing artist, non-profit founder and educator, mental health advocate, and certified PCEA (Person-Centered Expressive Arts) facilitator based in West Philadelphia.

Since 2012, their arts advocacy has helped bridge the gap between local wellness institutions and marginalized communities throughout the Greater Philadelphia area. Exploring the visual and performing arts as healing modalities dates back to their childhood. Personal narratives regarding mental health diagnoses, hospitalization, and therapy treatments; self-care practices and holistic measures for psychological healing; relational dynamics and building community; diversifying creative practices, and finding harmony in everyday life add reference and value to their research on connection, accessibility, and the human condition.
As a passionate, self-taught painter, expressive movement artist, installation artist, photographer, and filmmaker, shanina dionna learned to build language and relationships to help advocate for mental health and wellness in underserved communities. Current influences in their work include metal welding and fabrication; glass, optics and light studies; and earth-based paint pigments.

In 2016, they created the youth arts program, @artbudsphilly, currently housed at the Urban Art Gallery in West Philadelphia. In 2018, they became one of twenty artists worldwide to receive the inaugural TDC20 Grant (The Dean Collection 20) presented by musicians and married art couple, Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz. With ongoing support from DBHIDS (the Department of Behavioral Health & Intellectual Disability Services) of their exhibition series centered around mental health, “embryo” (2012-2021), they helped provide free resources and professional support to attendees – the organization’s first partnership of its kind.
shanina dionna’s practice in the healing arts sector has since garnered the support of both national and international opportunities including: exhibiting for the Platforms Project Independent Art Fair at Nikos Kessanlis in Athens, Greece; presenting for A Conference on Social Determinants of Community Well-Being by the University of Southern California; performing at the Affordable Art Fair in New York City; facilitating for Mural Arts Philadelphia’s Women’s Re-Entry program serving previously incarcerated women; currently facilitating Expressive Arts Healing workshops at Fleisher Art Memorial; partnerships with the Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia Museum of Art, the National Liberty Museum and Moore College of Art & Design; and earning their first fellowship with Mural Arts Philadelphia’s Black Artists Fellowship.

In a 2020 interview, Philadelphia Magazine recognized them as the “Philly artist creating a positive space for mental health conversations.” After receiving certification from the Person-Centered Expressive Arts Institute in 2021, they launched an independent “Expressive Arts Healing” practice – facilitating in partnership with local schools, non-profits, and cultural organizations serving children, teens, and adults in the Greater Philadelphia area and beyond.

Shanina dionna is currently a senior at Temple University with a study focus on art therapy and aspirations to study abroad for their master’s as it relates to the arts, humanities, psychology, and social change.

Self taught freelance Writer, Artist and Instructor. Head of Pyroglyphics Studio.

Steven CW Taylor, also known as “The Time Thief,” is an award-winning visual artist and photographer based in Philadelphia. Having spent a pivotal decade in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area (DMV), Steven initially ventured into the field as a youth correctional officer before making a dramatic career shift. He honed his skills as a software engineer at Booz Allen Hamilton from 2005 to 2021, pioneering remote work since 2011. Despite his successful tech career, his undeniable artistic calling led him to pick up a GoPro and delve into photography in 2014 at the age of 32.

Steven’s transformative art captures the essence of his extensive travels and cultural experiences. His notable pieces like “Subway Surfer,” “Jetty Boyz,” “The OG,” and “The Isaac” bear testament to his craftsmanship. A three-time visitor to South Africa, the profound African philosophy of Ubuntu—meaning “the universal bond of sharing that connects humanity”—resonates deeply within him.

His work has not gone unnoticed, as he is the 2023 Mural Arts Black Artist Fellow and the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists (PABJ) Visual Journalist of the Year. Inspired by legends such as Peter Lik, Gordon Parks, and Ansel Adams, Steven sees mentor Donald Camp as a guiding light in his journey. It is Steven’s ambition to be remembered alongside these iconic figures as he documents his contemporary life for future generations.

In every frame, capture, and journey, Steven CW Taylor amplifies his life’s mission: Ubuntu To The World.

I received my BFA in Illustration from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, PA in 2021, and was the recipient of the 2021 Fellowship Trust Award and the Conrad J. Linke Memorial Scholarship while at The Academy. I was an Artist in Residency with the Black Gotham Experience in New York City in October 2022. My most recent Solo Exhibition at Welancora Gallery in Brooklyn,NY which exhibited over 20 drawings and paintings done mostly in metalpoint, a drawing technique in which I use various metals to draw my works. Previous exhibitions include Silver, DFN Projects and New York Artists Equity, New York, New York 2021 and A Good Habit Formed: Examples of the PAFA Drawing Culture, Philadelphia, PA 2019 . I see myself as a scribe. The record-keeping between the subject and I is the act of artmaking. As a scribe transcribing the spoken word, I too have an obligation to depict each subject with a sense of urgency and respect given that my time with them is ephemeral. The purpose of my work is to encapsulate the ways in which we work within and against the societal, artistic, and material confines we inevitably find ourselves in. As a scribe, each piece is a documentation, and the medium a vehicle for communication. My current practice explores Black Material Culture, what brought Black bodies to their place today, who played a role in objectifying us, and how we objectify ourselves. After researching and educating myself on this Material Culture, my pieces serve as a visual marker of each subject. I hope that my work creates a dialogue around how far we have come and how much left we have to go in working through identities we never created, yet were created in. These pieces are a meditative act on my identity, with each line a conversation with the history of Blackness.

Branche Coverdale is artist based in Philadelphia. Originally a New Yorker, Branche works in an expressive and playful manner inspired from cartoons of his childhood with elements of the fantastical. Before moving to Philadelphia, he was a full time studio assistant for Takashi Murakami in NYC and studied at Rhode Island School of Design. He is currently working as a full time artist/illustrator.

Chelsey Luster is a Philadelphia-based curator, visual artist and art educator from Baltimore, Maryland. Luster received their BFA from Temple University’s Tyler School of Art and Architecture and attended a residency at Chautauqua School of Art. As a curator, Luster has organized multiple group exhibitions, was a Katheryn Pannepacker Curatorial Fellow at the Da Vinci Art Alliance, and is currently developing their curatorial practices as a Vox Populi member and Exhibition Manager at Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens.

Luster’s visual artwork focuses on intimacy, vulnerability, and privacy through depictions of domestic spaces. With their “American Bathroom” series, they use bathroom scenes to explore queer Black womanhood with regards to lack of privacy, invasion of the Black queer body, power structures, and isolation. Her work acknowledges the obstacles that burden queer Black women because of the intersectionality of their gender and sexuality and depicts these concepts through the renderings of voyeuristic bathroom scenes. In Luster’s current body of work, she is making work of people in their most vulnerable and personal physical and mental spaces whether it be in their studios, bedrooms, homes, or wherever they feel most at peace.

Elle K. Yancy is a Liberian born, American raised visual artist who enjoys exploring her artistic voice through the use of wet and dry mediums, photography, and most currently, tattoos. As a first generation Liberian who immigrated to the United States with her family as a child, Elle is heavily inspired by both her West Afrikan and Black/Afrikan-American cultures and the experiences that have come with navigating both identities. At large, Elle aims for her work to reflect the essential exploration of culture and the unifying forces found within. Working as an IT Specialist post undergrad for 5 years, Elle turned to pursuing her artistic practice full time after moving to Philadelphia from NYC in 2018 and now works as a tattoo apprentice in the Port Richmond area.

Faysal is a 16-year-old Philadelphian native from Germantown. He was diagnosed with childhood brain cancer at a young age, and has been living life to the fullest ever since! He wants to be an inspiration to other people living with cancer. Faysal plays with color, perception, and texture in his stylized artwork. Faysal’s paintings have layers, nuance, and depth. His artwork exudes movement, exaggeration, and multicolor combinations. Faysal also delights in exploring Black culture in the subjects of his artwork. Faysal is currently a rising junior in high school, and he hopes to attend a culinary arts school in the future. Faysal aspires to own a food truck one day, and eventually own his very own brick and mortar restaurant that explores the food of the African diaspora.

Gloria Martin’s goal is to help heal, educate, inspire, and create work from a place of gratitude and self-forgiveness. Her artistic practice seeks to offer healing by highlighting themes of spirituality in nature, as we are all connected to it. Every aspect of nature has a spiritual purpose and function within our existence. Gloria’s work draws on those meanings for the mission of self-discovery and collective healing. She examines feelings of oppression and how knowledge of self, nature, and symbols can combat self-inflicted and/or external pain.

Jah’s body of work centers black bodies adorned with humanity and elements that may not be of this world. Self-taught, Jah began painting as a means to express themselves and to connect with the world around them. Afrosurrealism is the provenance of their inspiration, a notion that seeks to cultivate alternative and expanded ways of knowing and being. Their work is an expression of Black people being able to imagine themselves in the future in a more liberated and free way.

Jaz is a queer Jamaican artist who began to take her digital art career seriously in the beginning of the pandemic. She loves to use vibrant colors and represent marginalized folks to create artwork inspired by escapism. She started drawing when she was 3 or 4 years old and learned from her older brother Richie, who unfortunately left this earth in 2019. She’s a fan of adult animations, a slut for smoothies, and loves to spoil her daughter, errr I mean cat, Chickpea.

Kelley Prevard is a self-taught artist and muralist whose work is centered on healing and storytelling. Through the development of her artistic skills, Prevard’s art has become more than just a creative outlet; it is her voice. She creates work that is influenced by social, historical, and cultural events. In her artwork, she explores and reveals the depths of her own identity, to revolutionize the way people view and experience Black women. As she moves forward, she hopes to keep translating experiences of trauma and loss into works of art that heal, tell stories, and create communal spaces.

Splitting their childhood between Oslo, Norway, and New York City, Kita developed a love for public space at a very young age. This led them to pursue a career in landscape architecture to be able to allow their designs to contribute to universal and accessible scapes within the cities they love. Kita’s art strives to uplift, amplify, and protect Black spaces and folx, all while holding gentrifiers accountable for the communities they have interested themselves in. Kita collaborates with local community members to develop collage renderings of neighborhoods and neighbors, to show the spaces of generational love and growth.

LaShawnna Simon (she/her) is a digital artist based in Philadelphia, PA. Also creating under the alias Shawnwitz, LaShawnna focuses on digital art and graphic design. She enjoys practicing traditional methods of painting and applying them using non-traditional media. Her work includes hints of whimsy, and as she strives to center subjects who are BIPOC in the name of representation and visibility.

Linda Gail Sanders paints or draws the abstract impressions of a figure, still life, or portrait. She seeks to interpret the energy that emanates from the subject. Linda tries to listen to what her subject demands of me as she infuses her work with the magic and mysteries of African folklore, along with the interplay of some of her artistic influences that have followed her almost from the very beginning, which are African art, Joan Miro, and Pablo Picasso, just to name a few. From there, her imagination in collaboration with her medium of choice, begins to bring that work to life. Sometimes it’s not that simple of a collaboration or process, as the subject itself may defy the medium or substrate and require a total change in direction from which it began, and begins to turn itself into something it wants to be and bring its own self to life in wonderful ways that she never imagined and did not expect, and she likes that.

Monique Muse is a Philadelphia-based sculpture artist and designer. Within her practice she seeks a holistic understanding of homeness through building her questioning and discoveries of it. A fascination in domestic construction methods, psychology of the home, and semantics underlies her work. Muse perceives her practice as infinite research, which is currently being documented through functional forms and conceptually integrated photographs.

Yinka Orafidiya is a socially-engaged ceramic artist based in Philadelphia and founder of “Crafting Community,” an initiative to foster social connection through shared artistic experiences. She completed an advanced pottery intensive with master potters in Ghana, West Africa and has also participated in residencies at Moravian Pottery and Tile Works (PA), the International Ceramics Studio (Kecskemet, Hungary), and Watershed (ME). Yinka has received a Multicultural Fellowship from the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA), an Independence Foundation Fellowship in the Arts, and multiple awards from The Leeway Foundation, including the prestigous Transformation Award in 2019. She is currently building the foundation for the OYA Studio Museum, a host residency space that supports and collects the work of Black ceramic artists across the African diaspora.

Zeinab Diomande otherwise known as “Z The Rat” is a Philadelphia-based multidisciplinary artist. Diomande was born in 1999 in Virginia. Her family left the United States to relocate back to their home in the Ivory Coast where she grew up and spent most of her life. In 2018, she moved to Philadelphia where she is currently studying, majoring in Fine Arts Painting and Drawing at The University of The Arts. Diomande was a 2021 AXA Art Prize finalist, and she has been a part of exhibitions internationally and across the country, in Abidjan, London, New York and Los Angeles.

Acori Honzo is a self-taught sculptor and painter. His influences range from Norman Rockwell to comic book artists like Alex Ross. His sculptures often refer to pop and mass culture. He sees this as a way to connect with anyone of any age using different mediums. He approaches a wide scale of subjects in a multi-layered way, likes to involve the viewer in a way that is sometimes physical, allowing them to add their perspective. His works directly respond to the surrounding environment and use everyday experiences, nostalgia, and moments in history from the artist as a starting point.

Amir Campbell, also known as Amiracle, is a multi-faceted creative. His work revolves around displaced identity and unity through the lens of integration and assimilation into American Culture as an African American. Through his work, he communicates and forms relationships with his audience. Amiracle uses his subject matter to advance the opportunity to introduce them to the world of artistic expression and explain his views with a sincere hope to reach all who can connect with unity, oneness, and the perspective of exciting hope. His ultimate vision is to blend the worlds of fine art with street art.

Andrea Walls is a multidisciplinary artist, informed and inspired by the writers and visual artists of the Harlem Renaissance and Black Arts Movement. She is pleased that her writing, scholarship, and visual art have been supported by organizations she admires, including the Leeway Foundation, VONA/Voices Workshops for Writers of Color; Hedgebrook Residencies for Women Authoring Change; The Colored Girls Museum; Writers Room at Drexel University; Studio Museum of Harlem; The Women’s Mobile Museum, and FabYouth Philly. She is the creator and curator of the interactive web experiences, The Museum of Black Joy, The D’Archive, and The Black Body Curve.

Anthony Folks is a visual artist most known for his collage works on paper. He received his BFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) before completing his master’s degree program in Art Education at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). While at SAIC, Hip-Hop became a source of artistic research for pedagogy. As his collage work continues to evolve, he is currently inspired by Kuba Cloth patterns and designs. While volunteering at the Stoney Island Arts Bank – working with the Johnson Publishing Collection – Anthony co-curated collection objects aimed at refreshing the narratives surrounding African American history. His recent exhibitions include: CONNECT at South Shore Arts and the 2019 8th Annual Invitational Exhibition: Friends and Neighbors at AIRSPACE.

Creating paintings to engage youth in reading is Arthur Haywood’s passion. His paintings are published in his book The Great Library and Space and Time Magazine. He has completed murals for Mural Arts and Elkins Park School. He received a Harriet Hale Woolley Scholarship at Fondation Des États-Unis in Paris, where he is currently working on murals for Lycée Paul Lapie, from October 2020 until June 2021. The murals depict diverse students looking into scenes from fantasy books to inspire them to read. The paintings will be displayed at the school in May and at Fondation Des États-Unis in June.

In his somewhat simplistic yet playfully unapologetic approach, Caff Adeus’ work boldly says what a lot of artists wouldn’t dare express openly. His practice includes portrait photography, sculptures, and abstract paintings that explore Picasso’s dictum that anyone can learn to paint, but it takes a lifetime to paint like a child. Adeus’ pursuit incorporates commonality, antagonistic critiques of history, civil disparities, and political structures in aggressively condescending tones. Between mocking and challenging social constructs, he offers a front-row seat to a self-deprecating appraisal of himself as an art world outsider.

Dara Haskins (b.1992 Baltimore, MD) has rooted her practice in Philadelphia, working primarily in painting oil portraits and figurative oil and mixed media paintings. Addressing the ways the black body has been represented and looked at throughout history, she challenges the identity of being seen and unseen connecting historical content to contemporary spaces and how that relationship coexists. She is currently working on a series called Havana Time expressively from her own photographs of people she spent time within Cuba. Her large to small-scale paintings of objects, people, and places connect daily in domestic environments within the African diaspora. She is also working on a series called Quarantine Paintings that reflects on dealing with isolation, time, and opportunity during the pandemic of COVID-19. Haskins received her BFA at The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 2019. Winning the Artist of the Week from Rush Art Gallery (May 2020) and The J. Henry Scheidt Memorial Travel Scholarship to Cuba (2019). She currently lives and works in Philadelphia.

Emilio Maldonado is an Afro-Caribbean artist living in Philadelphia. He graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design with an MFA in Painting (2013), from Escuela de Artes Plasticas de Puerto Rico with a BFA in Painting (2011), and from Altos de Chavon in the Dominican Republic with an AAS in Fine Arts and Illustration. He has been part of group and solo shows both locally and abroad, such as Vox Populi Make/shift (Philadelphia, PA, 2021), Breaking Arrow (Saint Louis, MO), Santo Domingo Museum of Modern Art Biennial, (Santo Domingo, DR, 2013), The New Kinds on the Block (San Juan, PR, 2011), and has attended Elsewhere Residency (Greensboro, NC) and Tiger Strikes Asteroid 2020.

Kelli Williams is an animator, visual artist, and community artist based in Philadelphia, where she is an assistant professor at Moore College of Art & Design. In her personal work, she uses stop-motion animation, photography, installation, and humor to create work that comments on society through the lens of social media and technology. Her work has been shown nationally and internationally and has been featured in the Huffington Post, Columbus Live, Hyperallergic, Artnet, and Baltimore Magazine.

Kenyssa Evans is an interdisciplinary artist from Washington, DC, and now resides in Philadelphia. She received her BFA in Photography and Digital Arts with a minor in Curatorial Studies from Moore College of Art and Design, Philadelphia (‘20). Her work highlights spatial narratives that are both personal and universal through the lens of Black life, aesthetic, and imaginary. With the main use of imagery and materiality that are in constant metaphorical motion to our physical and digital reality, she set forth a visual social study of infinite and finite space through psychology and post-independent visual culture of Blackness.

Philadelphia native Khalif Rivers is a self-taught photographer and writer interested in capturing the remnants of “Old Philadelphia” and uncovering its rich past. Driven by his love of the city’s unique industrial and residential architecture, he possesses an uncanny ability to evoke emotion from its landscapes that he amplifies through storytelling. His work resonates with both former and current residents alike.

Lindsay Bedford is a Spatial Storyteller, Communications Strategist, and an agent of change in her community. In June of 2021, Lindsay will graduate from Drexel University with a Master of Science in Interior Architecture & Design. Lindsay is passionate about the power of design and the opportunities it provides to spark change in our communities and society overall. This belief influenced her graduate thesis, where she explored the role of the museum in the 21st century and how design can be utilized to create a more equitable and culturally responsive art museum, specifically in an underserved community in Philadelphia.

Mikel Elam was born in Philadelphia. He attended the University of the Arts receiving his BFA in painting. He also attended the School of the Visual Arts in New York. He has been showing his paintings in numerous gallery spaces nationally and internationally for the last 25 years.

Mz. Icar is an anonymous interdisciplinary artist. Her name is a semordnilap and is a reversal of racism. Her colorful visual narratives celebrate Women, Global Blackness, and Play. She creates art in the form of murals, mixed-media, textile, and photography, often combining the mediums. Her work explores histories and imagines the best case scenario future from the perspective of women and people of color.

Rachael Moton is a writer, director, and failed internet comedian. Her obsession with weird indie films and reality television led her to attend Temple University, where she graduated with a BFA degree in Film with a concentration in Directing. Her work has been supported by various organizations, including Sundance Institute, SFFILM, The Westridge Foundation, and The Gotham. As a storyteller, Rachael is passionate about sharing stories of marginalized people with the goal of promoting empathy, usually by utilizing comedy. If she wasn’t a filmmaker, Rachael believes she would’ve been a great reality tv star.

Robert is a full-time artist working mainly in photography, specializing in commercial portraiture and figurative fine art. Some of the thematic elements found throughout his work include rich colors and painterly light, impactful storytelling through imagery, and a commitment to portraying his subjects – especially those of BIPOC identity, in elevated, radiant, and expansive ways. In this way, he aspires to contribute to the larger narrative of who we are as people and how we show up in the world. Robert also has a background in music and writing as a vocalist and poet.

Steven Cooper is an artist who specializes in photography, video, and graphic design. When creating art pieces, he takes his own photos from his archive and “enhances” them. Making them into true works of art from plain photos. Starting photography in late 2010, in 2017, Steven shifted into the art space participating in various shows around Philadelphia and other states.

Taj DeVore-Bey is a filmmaker from Philadelphia. Through his body of work, he aims to leave his viewers with a sense of perspective. He is inspired by directors such as Spike Lee, Terrence Malick, and Ava DuVernay. He is inspired by cinematographers such as Bradford Young, Emmanuel (Chivo) Lubezki, and Ernest Dickerson.

Wit López is an internationally acclaimed, award-winning multidisciplinary maker, performance artist, writer, and cultural advocate based in Philadelphia. They are the Founder and Artistic Director of Till Arts Project, a grassroots arts services organization serving LGBTQ+ artists in the Greater Philadelphia Area.

A native of Brazil, Adenilson Dos Santos (Mestre Doutor) has practiced capoeira, a Brazilian folk and martial art for the past 41 years. As a result of his achievements, he was granted permanent residency and US citizenship as an “Alien with Extraordinary Abilities”. Mestre Doutor is the founder, artistic and executive director of Project Capoeira, whose mission is to preserve, develop, and share Capoeira. Our activities grow intercultural understanding and a sense of community through arts education and social outreach. We use Capoeira as a vehicle to promote other Brazilian arts and to preserve Brazilian culture in Greater Philadelphia.

Anthony Carlos Molden is a mixed media painter/sculptor born in 1968 in Cedar Rapids, IA, and raised in Altadena, CA. Anthony currently resides and creates in Philadelphia, PA.He is a ,mostly, self-taught artist; but, has taken courses at both the Pasadena College of Art + Design and the University of Iowa…in order to supplement self-learning.Anthony has been drawing since age 3…and painting with acrylic and oil, vigorously, since age 12. In his 20s, he started working as a scenic on movie, video and theatre sets. Anthony has also had an over 20yr career in construction and creation/restoration of decorative architecture while living in New York City for 25yrs.All of the aforementioned experiences lent to Anthony’s current painting style, which is a mix of sculptural relief with a repurposing of found objects and recycled materials. All of his paintings are made with 90-100% recycled materials, including paint and surfaces. This was a 20yr goal for Anthony…”to make something of value out of the piles of refuse around us everyday.” Anthony’s work has been exhibited at such reputable galleries as…Kenny Schacter Contemporary and La Mama La Galleria both in NY…as well as the Painted Art Center, Tiberino Museum and Rush Arts…all in Philadelphia, PA. Mr. Molden has also become a master at live painting and has done it several times…from the renowned Leaf Art & Music Festival in Asheville, NC to the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia.Anthony’s works are currently on exhibit at The Painted Bride Art Center…and he is presently preparing for a full solo show at Rush Arts.

Aqil Rogers is a metalsmith from West Philly. Their afrofuturistic brand, BLACKMARZIAN, aims to generate a new Black visual language of identification for the liberated self. This carries the intention of urging Black collective liberation into existence. Through working with metals that are not precious by name, but by nature, Aqil seeks to create accessible jewelry defined by Astro-Blackness.

Athena’s work is the synthesis of fine arts and design. Her influences include Frida Kahlo, Käthe Kollwitz, Basquiat and Kerry James Marshall, just to name a few. Though her primary love is in portraiture, she has also worked professionally as a Web/Graphic designer for the past 14 years. In her work, you can sometimes get a sense of those worlds merging to become one. She does not limit herself to a particular medium as she is willing to experiment with various tools, techniques and surfaces. Heavily influenced by music and human expression, a lot of Athena’s work is created while surrounding herself with a collage of sounds helping to bring forth the mood and emotions she’s trying to convey. She shares some of her process on social media with time-lapse footage and stills, allowing her followers to be a part of her creative journey. Her muses can be those familiar to pop culture, family or just someone who has caught her eye. Athena is currently an artist-in-residence at Cherry Street Pier in Philadelphia and is pursuing her MFA at Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.

Philadelphia native, Breyanna Maples is an alumni of The University of The Arts, School of Dance. As a freelance artist her practice is through but is not limited to Dance. Her practices extend into theatre, gallery performance and design. The work that Maples’ explores is internally stemming: moods, emotions, and the untold stories of her fantasmic innermost world are alive. Breyanna’s performance credits include Solange Knowles, Okwui Okpokwasili, Peter Born, Gerard and Kelly and more.

As a lover of all things home, Chanae has always found so much joy in not only curating her own home, but also helping others with their home projects. With a gift for sourcing unique pieces and understanding her client’s needs, Chanae’s passion has since become the noteworthy interior design firm that is ọlọrọ interiors. Chanae’s goal with ọlọrọ is to create spaces that feel like a haven for her clients from their busy lives.In order to do this, her design firm creates spaces that are made up of thoughtful touches, where every room speaks to the individual’s personality.

I am a Black college grad that studied Animation and Glass. With my work, I would like to continue down the path and show others in my community (young and old) that there are more options available to them than the limits we know. Hopefully, my work will inspire others to join the crafts and explore outside of what is commonplace.

Ellen Tiberino is a mosaic and ceramic artist, Assistant Director at an arts nonprofit community education center, and teacher with over 15 years’ experience as an artist and ten years in specialty education including after school lead teacher, curriculum development and artist workshop development and execution. Born to visual artist parents, Ellen has developed as a prominent artist herself.

Ellen began assisting late Philadelphia artist Joe Brenman on murals, and later took part in Mural Arts’ Neighborhood Time Exchange Residency in 2018. She was also part of the inaugural cohort of the Philadelphia Fellowship for Black Artists​​​​​​​ in 2020. In 2021, Ellen painted a mural at Suburban Station entitled Opposing Forces as part of the third phase of the Color Me Back: A Same Day Work and Pay Program. These days, Ellen’s art is being featured in the new TV show Bel-Air on Peacock.

Ellen works with stained glass in a method of mosaic, which she equates to “painting with glass.” Nature is one of her biggest inspirations, in which she is constantly amazed and astounded by the natural world around her, and she seeks to glorify it in her artwork. 

Philadelphia, PA native Erika Richards is a professional illustrator – a skilled artist who has mastered the technique of blending watercolor and Prismacolor pencils. Erika began creating art at the tender age of three. A fascination with the female figure and fairy tales has developed into Erika creating fantasy art. Erika draws upon fantasy, history and the human image to make visual art that elaborates on imagination. Erika is a graduate of the Moore College of Art and Design located in Philadelphia, PA with a BFA in Illustration. Her artistic skills have earned her several accolades. She is the recipient of the Philadelphia Watercolor Society Award 2017, 2nd place award for “Best Illustrator” at the 34th Annual Fall for the Arts Festival Chestnut Hill, PA 2018 and 1st place artist award for the 11th Annual Gloucester City Cultural Arts and Heritage Society 2019. In the summer of 2019 Erika started her business Erika L. Illustrations LLC. Erika L. LLC prides itself on putting quality artwork first. “If the work must be brilliant, everything else will fall into place.” Erika L. Illustrations produces pristine art and merchandise with an emphasis on Afrocentrism and black women. Erika is supported by her mother CFO Sherida Douglass and is currently growing Erika L. to become one of the most preeminent art companies in the world.Erika remains a resident of Philadelphia, PA. In her spare time Erika enjoys playing with her ‘crazy cat’ Jazz and watching rerun T.V. shows.

Eustace Mamba Francis, (born Manhattan, NY – 7/1992) is a fine artist, photographer, printmaker, and graphic designer driven by innovation and quality. Eustace’s fine arts practice is an extension of his obsessive documentation of complex, contemporary thoughts and issues through simple expressions. Eustace strives to convey the unique perspective of a first-generation child of immigrants and to capture the complex interplay of history and identity, involved in straddling multiple worlds and cultures.Eustace’s artwork is an adventure into a vibrant world, which he believes is overlooked, and, as a result, under and misrepresented and underappreciated, by Western classically trained academics. He has chosen to explore themes and images of people of color in studio work, given this lack of proper representation, in the canon of Western art history.

Ginssiyo Apara is an artist, and theorist working with various media, ranging from sound, sculpture, painting, poetry, and writing. A common theme that runs throughout his work centers around manipulating found plastic materials, synthesizing them with classic fine art materials. Recently, he has begun exploring the use of “playful” materials such as puffy paint, sequins, vintage stickers of nostalgic cartoon imagery, repurposing and arranging discarded items. He is interested in deconstructing the definitions and distinctions made between “art” and “trash”. In deconstructing these two categories his work aims to construct an allegory of the trials and tribulations of the black community in America. Example: the analogy of the simultaneous “trash”-like treatment of the black demographic yet overconsumption of the culture. Through this, he conceptualizes this notion of a “recycling” of black culture and existence. The recent ban of plastic bags is the ban on the black existence, yet in reality blackness will exist long after. Blackness is the creation that can’t be recycled, that never decomposes.

My background for the past few decades has involved steady work in the service industry, in arts distribution, and volunteering in many video productions. I have had a close association with the Philadelphia arts community for many years – I went to art school and have acted and modeled, and supported arts and artists all along the way. Through my involvement at Scribe Video Center, WYBE, and DUTV, I became drawn to the opportunities that video makes possible. All of this led to the development of my first program for PhillyCam, “5 on the Go”, a series of short glimpses into various artists and events around town. This evolved into “The Inside Look” a short form documentary series now in production of it’s second episode. I am from, of, and for the community and operate under a simple and effective principle: Care, Share, and Be there!My goal is to develop “The Inside Look”, an intimate look into the process and outcomes of notable, but overlooked, African-American artists in Philadelphia.

Martin Peeves is a New-Media artist of Ghanaian heritage who lives and works in Philadelphia, U.S.A. Peeves’ juxtaposes & incorporates his subjective experiences, as an African immigrant in the United States interfacing with Western contemporary culture, (for content and context) in his works. His interdisciplinary artworks explores and interprets the multifaceted realities of assimilation. Using Art as an integral activity for play, therapy, and research; Peeves draws inspiration from his daily socio-cultural context to develop his artistic practice. Incorporating elements of improvisation & sampling of found material into music, sound, and video-based works – #PEEVESKOTEK – he utilizes social-media platforms and internet subcultures for performances & exhibitions. The Artist/self-taught D.I.Y designer creates unique customized up-cycled clothing using recycled garments and materials under the tag #MadeByMartinPeeves.

Naomieh Jovin is a visual artist with a focus in photography. She received her BFA in Photography and Digital Arts from Moore College of Art and Design (‘17). Her work is influenced by the absence of her late mother as well as her experiences growing up Haitian-American in the United States. In her work, she utilizes appropriated photos from old family albums and incorporates her own photographs to try and recreate similar moments. This process is meant to illustrate resistance and intergenerational trauma and how we carry them through our bodies. The incorporation of appropriated family photos, writings from relatives, and her own personal work allows Jovin to reflect on her family history, while paying homage to generations before her and their generational resistance against erasure. Naomieh Jovin currently lives and works in Philadelphia, PA.

Meet Nazeer Sabree, a talented emerging black artist hailing from Philly. With a unique style that blends traditional techniques with contemporary elements. Focusing on manhood and boyhood and the pursuit of healing, Nazeer Sabree creates thought-provoking figure paintings and collages that explore the complexities and nuances of these themes. Nazeer was inspired from a young age by the rich artistic heritage of Philadelphia and the vibrant cultural scene surrounding it. They developed a style that reflects their experiences growing up in the city as they honed their abilities over many years of practice and experimentation. With a strong background in traditional art techniques, Nazeer has developed a unique style that seamlessly blends classical elements with contemporary ideas. Nazeer’s work is consistently potent, evocative, and impactful, whether as a striking portrait or an abstract composition.

Nazeer creates dynamic scenes that question societal norms and the expectations placed on men and boys using bold brushstrokes and vibrant color palettes. Through their paintings, a profound social and political awareness characterizes Nazeer’s work and the ongoing struggles for justice and equality. Nazeer invites viewers to delve deeper into masculinity’s complexities and consider how it intersects with race, identity, mental health, and personal experience.

Shanel Edwards is a Black, queer, non-binary, first-generation Jamaican, Philadelphia based, dancer, photographer, director, and poet.Their work centers Black Queer Femme-hood, intimacy as a tool for healing, and radical joy. They create art in a world where tenderness and rage coexist. There are no sharp corners but when needed, there are knives. Shanel’s artwork is a plush landscape for laughter and slow dancing with one another. Shanel’s creations should bring you to ease, should bring you closer.

Forging professional careers in makeup, wardrobe, production design, graphic design and now, camera and creative direction, attention to detail is in her blood. With humble beginnings in makeup and wardrobe, Simone worked in the commercial and film worlds applying her unique aesthetic. In 2018, she went on to attend Sundance Film Festival for “What Death Leaves Behind” (2018) as the costume designer, as well as a principal part of the makeup team.An avid techie, she continued to study visual art and committed full-time to the camera department as 1st assistant camera, and now camera operator and director. Continuing to direct, Simone cross-pollinates her creative versatility, applying her technical experience to graphic design and directorial work.

Philadelphia-based artist, Taj Poscé, analyzes the beauties and plights of his life through color, abstraction and informal narrative paintings, designs and poems. He truly has a pure, raw and optimistic gaze on art making and on the world. Many of his most recent works reflect the idioms “every cloud has a silver lining” and “being on cloud 9.” Taj often mixes found materials from his environment with quality art materials, which show no sense of hierarchy in his work. He also sometimes burns paintings in an abstract way that, to him, reference the current states of war and chaos. Many of his works across mediums reference clouds. He believes that as humans, like clouds, we are constantly in motion, adapting, evolving and changing. Poscé believes that we are always taking form to our present circumstances; trying to grasp and understand the plights of our being while also embracing and cherishing them with the beauty of our lives.

Tash Billington is a Philadelphia Native who uses art as a way to heal, motivate and give back to the world. She specializes in Photography, Painting and Community Engagement. Best known for assisting on large scale public mural projects and being a part of the Women’s Mobile Museum Collective. Tash has currently worked with Philadelphia Mural Arts, The Philadelphia Photo Arts Center and Amber Art and Design. In 2019 Tash was one of the 180 selected for the New York Times Portfolio Review out of 3500 applicants worldwide.

Yannick Lowery is an interdisciplinary artist based in Philadelphia, PA. Inspired by the cultural dynamism of his native New York and present hometown, his work explores the creations of illustrated proverbs, portents and historical souvenirs to guide the viewer through cultural introspection and responsible, imaginative perpetuation. He utilizes photography, found and archival paper to employ world-creation and compile instagative, investigative waymaking devices (both still and animated).

Lowery’s deeply personal, sentient body of work explores visual art as an echolocation device and reflectional tool of retelling, foretelling. Ultimately, his collage works are allegorical tools for his true medium: the robust ecosystem of community that inspires him, becomes central imagery for his work, and participates in the concepts that inform his oeuvre.

His latest work as co-creator of The Black Paradise Project demonstrates his focus on world building by coordinating workshops and activities centered around mitigating the mental health consequences of racism and reimagining Black futures.