This summer season, InLiquid will present two new exhibitions at Park Towne Place Apartments. Featuring work by four Philadelphia-based artists, the presentations aim to “consider the city’s layered cultural influences while also rethinking and recontextualizing monuments connected to Revolutionary-era history.” Together, the exhibitions position Philadelphia as both subject and setting for ongoing conversations about identity, memory, and public symbolism.
Both exhibitions are part of Radical Americana, a region-wide initiative uniting 25 contemporary artists and more than 20 cultural partners. The project explores how the legacies of 1776 and subsequent milestone anniversaries continue to shape American identity, pairing archival research with newly commissioned, site-specific work across museums and historic spaces. It’s all timely as well, with the nation’s semiquincentennial being this year. Ultimately, the program reflects on Philadelphia’s foundational role in shaping the country’s civic and cultural narratives.
One of the featured exhibitions, ‘At Its Root’, on view in the North and West Towers, brings together work from three artists and will tackle themes related to origin, migration, home, and identity with personal stories as its fuel. Featured artists include Colette Fu, Duwanevue Sante Johnson, and Dejeonge Reese.
Colette Fu is known for her highly detailed, mechanically intricate pop-up books that depict culturally significant places, foods, people, and objects drawn from minority cultures. Duwanevue Sante Johnson, an official embroiderer of American flags, works across different disciplines to examine symbolism, labor, and national identity. Dejeonge Reese creates wearable sculptural works using Black hair and textiles, engaging themes of heritage, self-expression, and the body as both archive and site of cultural memory, a release notes.
On the other end, ‘Charm Offensive’, on view in the South Tower, features work from artist John Y. Wind. With it, Wind reimagines the William M. Reilly Memorial, a six-sculpture bronze monument honoring figures from the Revolutionary War. Drawing on historical research conducted in partnership with the Association for Public Art, Wind temporarily transformed the monument through the addition of handcrafted jewelry and mixed-media embellishments, including chains, flags, and sculptural adornments — and reworking history is something the artist is known for.
The exhibition brings these sculptural elements into the gallery alongside documentation of the public intervention, as well as related works (think collages, digital compositions, and lenticular prints). Through this expanded presentation, Wind “humanizes historical figures while probing themes of immigration, commemoration, and representation.”
The public is invited to attend gallery receptions on June 3 and June 6 to 8, each evening from 6 to 9 p.m. Beginning in the North Tower, these events will include guided tours of the exhibitions and insights from participating artists. Light refreshments will be provided by AVANA, and advance registration is encouraged.
To learn more about InLiquid’s programming at Park Towne Place (2200 Benjamin Franklin Pkwy), visit inliquid.org
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Keywords
InLiquid,
Philadelphia art exhibitions,
Radical Americana,
Park Towne Place,
Colette Fu,
John Y. Wind,
Revolutionary War art,
Philadelphia semiquincentennial