Organized by Daniel Tucker, “Organize Your Own: The Politics and Poetics of Self-Determination Movements”, was a touring exhibition and event series that started in Philadelphia at Kelly Writers House and Chicago at The Averill and Bernard Leviton Gallery, with events taking place in both cities throughout the exhibitions. Organize Your Own featured new work by contemporary artists and poets that responds to archival materials related to the history of white people organizing their own working-class white neighborhoods in Philadelphia (the October 4th Organization) and Chicago (the Young Patriots Organization) in keeping with the mandate from the Black Power movement to “organize your own” community against racism.

A collaborative exhibition between Asian Arts Initiative and artists Ernel Martinez and Keir Johnston of Amber Art and Design, Corner Store explores the contemporary sociological and psychological intersections between pan-ethnic Black and Asian communities in Philadelphia and how our relationships are shaped based on which side/s of the counter we may stand.

La Frontera was a temporary community space  created in North Philadelphia in part of Open Source: A Citywide Exhibition of Temporary Public Art. Lead artists Ernel Martinez and Keir Johnston converted a warehouse on 8th Street and Susquehanna into a community center dedicated to capturing stories of migration and immigration into Philadelphia. Information from the captured histories were rendered visually inside and outside the building. The goal of the center was to bridge the African American and Hispanic communities that are divided by the 5th Street corridor through sharing of personal histories.

The exhibition will explore themes of communality, history and memory, collaboration, investment in community voices, gathering, and the act of sharing a meal and exchanging ideas. The exhibition and program series offer another opportunity for us to showcase our diverse artistic endeavors, featuring visual works and performances by over 50 Philadelphia-based artists who have collaborated with us over the past decade.

76ers: Beyond the Court speaks to city history and pays homage to local heroes: the Philadelphia 76ers. The mural includes iconic players Dr. J, Bobby Jones, Wilt Chamberlain, Allen Iverson, Charles Barkley, and more—pictured in action on the court and in service to the community.

Cleaning Out The Mansion

In the project's second phase during the summer 2017, elements of the PHLA public sites moved in a public procession from the city to the Museum’s Perelman Building. Conceived by Keir Johnston and Ernel Martinez of the artistic collaborative, Amber Art & Design, this series of performances was collectively titled, Visages of the Underground.

Cobbs Creek Art Club