Exciting updates for the Our Market project!

The Our Market project unveiled several new project components during the South 9th Street Italian Market Festival in May. Led by artist Michelle Angela Ortiz in partnership with Mural Arts Philadelphia, the project unveiled the Our Market Story Cart, designed by Ortiz and inspired by the Market’s push carts. The cart will serve as a tool to collect stories along different sites in the Market (butcher shops, restaurants, hair salons) on select Saturdays from June through July. All the stories will be added to the Our Market open-source digital archive.

In addition, the project will create several murals and lightboxes along the Market to highlight Market vendors and their stories. All twelve artists selected are local and reflect the demographic of the Market. The murals and lightboxes will be installed throughout the Market through August 2024.

The project also unveiled the first of a series of images as part of its billboard series located on 9th and Washington. The photos feature local photographers and portraits of community members living and working in the Market. The billboard features our Community Connectors participating in our Our Market Story Circles.

“The development of the Our Market project has been a journey of deep connection with my community,” says artist Michelle Angela Ortiz. “Through initiatives like the Our Market Story Cart, digital archive, and in-person story collection events scheduled along the Market this summer, we aim to widen the narrative surrounding the layered histories of the individuals who contribute to the vitality of the 9th Street Market.”

Our Market also shared new merchandise highlighting original artwork from the revitalized produce stands with community phrases from the Market.

Our Market is a community-centered, multi-layered, multi-year public art project created and led by local artist Michelle Angela Ortiz with Fiera Studios in partnership with Mural Arts Philadelphia. The project was developed in April 2019. Our Market is focused on supporting the (im)migrant vendors, business owners, and neighbors who work and reside in the 9th Street Market, the artist’s home for 40+ years. The Project invests in the 9th Street Market by offering creative community strategies to tackle the issues of gentrification, racism, displacement, and erasure.

Lead support for Our Market is provided by the William Penn Foundation with additional support from National Endowment for the Arts, Philadelphia250, and Leeway Foundation.

Photos by Our Market Media Team: AK and Jacob Francois.