Philadelphia: City of Neighborhoods
Artist Statement
Philadelphia is known to be a city of neighborhoods, each with its own unique identity.
This collective identity is what the world sees as Philly but it's the people of the city who see its nuance, they know it best.
This project aims to illustrate the diversity of the city in the eyes of its residents. By isolating the signifiers of each of these areas, the work encourages the viewer to recognize the impact of our history, and how these communities have developed unique characteristic.
The patchwork nature of these overlapping areas ironically reflects the medium of collage. Composed of candid neighborhood landscape imagery, these works collectively reference Philadelphia and all of its complexities.
Expanding from these collages, cyanotypes were then created to unify the collection under the “blue cross” and illustrate the history of Philadelphia being the blueprint for an American metropolis.