What is West?
What is West? is a socially engaged, culturally competent effort to redistribute agency in an often misrepresentative and one-sided narrative of the neighborhood. This series of collaborative, civilian-controlled public art installations will give the authority and tools to define West Philadelphia as it exists for its community. Recognizing lived experience as expertise while utilizing public art as a means of exploration, this project will allow our neighbors to move towards collective healing and justice.
Year 1
Dream Big with Francis Myers Rec Center
Over the course of one year (2022-2023), Philadelphia-based musician, artist and educator Selina Carrera (Cagebird) worked with the community of Francis Myers Rec Center to explore the prompt “What is West?” through music, creative writing, and poetry. In this first year of the project we had the pleasure of hosting 30+ workshops and events engaging with nearly 250 community members. The playlist below is a sample of the in-progress works created by students.
Year 2
Archive with Malcolm X Park
angel shanel Edwards is a multi hyphenate artist based in Philadelphia leading free photography workshops and pop up photography events alongside Malcolm X Park and the surrounding West Philadelphia community. The program is seeking to archive west Philadelphia through photographic and land based explorations.