SELECTED projects
The Stand With Ukraine Listening Loom (SWULL) was a community engagement and pop-up art installation at the Gifford Playground in a far northeast neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that was created by artists Kathryn Pannepacker and Tieshka Smith. The project was intended to connect with newly resettled Ukrainian refugees in the city. It ran for six weeks starting on September 15 through
#Celebrate PEP: The exhibit was a recreation of the very classroom at SCI-Chester in which the class was taught,” shares Smith. “It is a testament to PEP's ability to cultivate a learning community where students feel empowered and supported to express themselves in such a compelling and honest way.”
BRING YOUR OWN BAG (#BYOBPHL) BILLBOARDS PROJECT was one of the tools in the campaign to reduce the number of plastic bags in Philly’s streets and in waste stream. Billboards around the city highlighted coalition members to amplify their voice for the protection of our city’s health and environment through promoting reusable bags. It was one of the many ways Trash Academy developed artistic interv
What's Good In My Hood/We Still Here (Evansville IN): I served as an artist-in-residence from May 13-May 27, 2018, in partnership with those who live and work in neighborhoods designated as Evansville’s (Indiana) Promise Zone. Among other things, I created a collection of images including street photos and portraits from the “Why I’m Still Here: Humans of 47713?” series.
Making Way for Change: Evansville, Indiana, January 2017: Street and documentary photographs of the southwestern Indiana city of Evansville.
Boundaries.Battlegrounds.Blessings was a photo essay commissioned by the Philadelphia Assembled team in 2017 that interrogated gentrification and displacement in the Olde Kensington neighborhood in Philadelphia.
Racism Is A Sickness (2015-2016) is a series of photos of 14 Philadelphians who partnered with me for a six week period during the summer of 2015 to create a visual depiction of the struggles we all have with racism. It was conceived out of my own personal frustration with all of the news of police brutality cases and rollbacks of legal protections like the Voting Rights Act and other anti-discri
ZIP Photo Essay: Beyond Faith at Faith Chapel in East Germantown, 19144 (2016): Every ZIP Philadelphia is a community storytelling project with the goal of taking WHYY to all 48 ZIP codes in Philadelphia. Through radio stories, photo essays, public events, and more, Every ZIP Philadelphia will work with community residents to create a documentary portrait of Philadelphia across space, medium, and
The Other Germantown was a photography exhibit, blog and portrait project spanning the years 2013-2019.
Portraits of Brewerytown (2012-2013) was a photography project by Tieshka Smith that highlights the unique traditions and aspects of Brewerytown, a north Philadelphia neighborhood. The project aimed to counter negative media coverage of the area by highlighting its assets and developing a more positive image of the community.
Oak Park After Dark, January - February 2015: Night photography of Oak Park Illinois landmarks and interesting storefronts. An exploration of public and shared spaces and how they tell a story about a community.
Private Pain, Silent Struggle was a portrait series by Philadelphia photographer Tieshka Smith that documented people of color and the objects and activities that help them cope with prejudice in everyday life. Smith wanted her subjects to be involved in the creative process and have a say in how they were portrayed.
Historic Germantown (various projects, 2016-2017):
Elephants on the Avenue was a two-year series of free workshops and other events to explore themes of class, race and community.
Portrait of Hood Cemetary: A Changing of the Guard was a photo essay that explored this historic space in Lower Germantown and how it planned to remain relevant to a community and future so different from when it was cr
ConsenSIS seeks to count, gather, and memorialize Black women and femme poets in the Philadelphia area, past and present. Led by Trapeta B. Mayson and Yolanda Wisher, ConsenSIS invites Black women and femme poets in the Philadelphia area—regardless of aesthetic, education, or achievement—to define for themselves the history and scope of their community. In partnership with Monument Lab's Re:Genera
Philadelphia Juneteenth Festival - event photography (2015-present) for the organizer, the Johnson House Historic Site in Germantown, a neighborhood in the northwest section of Philadelphia.
SolomonJones.com (2014, 2019): contributed words and photography
The Pillow Talk Project (2014-2015): Contributed photography for a groundbreaking effort devoted to rethinking masculinity norms.
Promo images (2018, 2020) for V. Shayne Frederick, Philadelphia-based jazz vocalist, pianist, composer and educator. Also, in 2021, contributed photography for the cover art for his studio album The King Suite (2022).