For me, Philadelphia always represented a site of history, with its
revered Independence Hall, Liberty Bell, and historic Old City
district. After living here for several years, I now consider
Philadelphia to be a source of personal history. It started four years
ago when I attended college at the University of Pennsylvania. I
majored in Fine Art; Philadelphia became a venue for intense academic learning and my studio, gallery, and institution. I frequented Old City for first Fridays and gallery openings which lead to my expanding and evolving artistic processes as an art student. Now, I work full time in one of those galleries. Furthermore, Philadelphia has helped shape who I am today as a woman. Earlier in life I was shy and timid, now I am empowered and breaking some of the boundaries which far too often limit young women like myself.

I created this small sculpture to embody Philadelphia’s impact on my personal growth and artistic development. I was influenced in part by Louise Nevelson, an artist whose upcoming exhibition I am helping to organize at Locks. An inspiration as a female artist, Nevelson took disparate fragmented objects and combined them into a sculpture, uniting them with a single color of paint. In my sculpture, I followed a similar process, painting textiles, plastic, and a metal chain silver, much like my thesis work at UPenn. Though the materials are common, household items, they are transformed through their arrangement and metallic finish. Philadelphia is my silver finish, it has transformed me into who I am today.