What Do You Declare? We Asked, and Philadelphians Answered

Printmaking by the People Exhibition Opening at the Parkway Central Library, April 16, 2026. Photo by Amna Khalafalla.

What do “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”—a core promise that underpins the Declaration of Independence—mean to Philadelphians today? If we had a chance to write a new Declaration, what would we include?

These are the questions that have animated Printmaking by the People. For the better part of three years, Mural Arts Philadelphia organized dozens of community printmaking workshops across the city, giving more than a thousand Philadelphians an opportunity to answer these questions by designing and printing their own posters.

Now you can see what people have to say, in an exhibition at the Free Library’s Parkway Central location, and in a beautifully designed poster by printmaker Rhonda Babb that is being pasted on walls all over the city as our 250th Independence Day approaches.

Philadelphians’ message is clear: The political freedoms the Declaration sought, and for which some people still struggle, are only the beginning. These freedoms must be continually and collectively exercised to secure for all the Declaration’s broader promise.

What does that mean to Philadelphians, exactly? First, Philadelphians expressed the fundamental desire to live in a world that is safe—peaceful co-existence, protection from violence, the ability to live without fear. They also recognize that our collective safety depends on a world where justice is exercised equitably.

Second, Philadelphians find common cause in a world that is sustaining. That starts with clean air, water and land, but also includes ensuring that basic, day-to-day needs—housing, food, health care—are within everyone’s reach. They hope for a life grounded in mindfulness, health and wellness.

Third, Philadelphians seek a world that offers everyone a life of possibility, the opportunity to flourish. They seek respect and dignity through education and work, the ability to be who they are, and the ability to express themselves and have a voice in the world. They seek purpose through family, faith and service.

Most of all, people vocalize a desire to live in a world anchored in kindness, compassion and love—the ability to love whomever we want, to act with love in our communities, to be loved for who we are. As one poster put it, to “love who they do and talk of it often.”

The founders who wrote the Declaration were among the elites of their time. By the standards of their day, they lived comfortably; in that context, their courage and the grave personal and economic risks they took were remarkable. But that may also explain why they left so much undone, such as the sharing of political rights with indigenous people, enslaved people and women, and so much unimagined, such as how our nation’s natural, economic and entrepreneurial bounty could be shared equitably.

In contrast, the Philadelphians who raised their voices in this project came from all walks of life, all economic stations. Some were refugees and immigrants whose journeys towards and dreams of our nation’s promise are fresh in their minds. They have the lived experience of undertaking the unfinished work of building the world that the Declaration promised long ago.

Fifty years ago, many Philadelphians felt the Bicentennial celebration was not for them because it did not acknowledge the exclusion and injustice they experienced in their lives. With Printmaking by the People, a broad swath of people could participate in dialogue about what this moment means, and can be seen and heard in a year dominated by high-profile spectacles, some of which have been sadly politicized.

As it did 250 years ago, Philadelphia is sending a message to the world: To what end do we practice our liberty? Their answer: our purpose in coming together—whether to protest oppressive political bonds or to participate in a community art-making workshop—should be to build a world that is safe and sustainable, that recognizes everyone’s inherent dignity and potential, and embraces our capacity for love.

This time around, Philadelphia offers a resonant message that is rooted deeply in the voice of the people, the community that is our city. Come see for yourself at the Free Library.

Todd W. Bressi, Public Art Project Specialist at Mural Arts Philadelphia, is co-manager of Printmaking by the People.