Signs of the Times
Political Posters Featured in Summer Exhibition
Photo credit: Kathy Hiesinger
For the first time in the 35-year history of Philadelphia’s Mural Arts program, a collaborative project has entered the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and been featured in a gallery exhibition.
First 100 Days, a poster series commissioned by influential Streets Dept activist Conrad Benner and Mural Arts was part of Cultivating Design: Recent Acquisitions, on view in the new Collab Gallery from Jun 25-Oct 16, 2022.
According to Museum officials, nearly 36,000 visitors from all over the world saw the posters and other significant Collab acquisitions during the busy summer months.
Created by thirteen Philadelphia artists, the posters are designed to engage the public around policy issues that should be addressed in the Biden/Harris administration. In gratitude for their gift to the Museum, each artist received a lifetime membership.
The artists are Brunofsky – Canceling student debt; Candy Alexandra González – Housing for all; Derick Jones – Universal healthcare; Donte Neal – $15 minimum wage; Jenny Scott – Racial economic equity; Jonai Gibson-Selix – Reallocating police budgets; Kah Yangni – $2,000 stimulus checks; Krista Dedrick-Lai – Closing immigrant camps; Lisa Kelley – Harm reduction; Marian Bailey – Reopening schools safely; Marisa Velázquez-Rivas – Environmental justice; Melita Tirado – Abolishing I.C.E.; Natalie Hope McDonald – Vaccinating the country.
Cultivating Design was assembled by Colin Fanning and Alisa Chiles, Assistant Curators of European Decorative Arts, and shown in the Collab Gallery for Modern and Contemporary Design, Given by Lisa Roberts and David Seltzer.
