FRoNT RooM 

DARA HASKINS

A Matter of TASTE

I’ve expanded my way of seeing to capture the stories told by the energy around us. Most of my subjects live and work in the Philadelphia area, and through their portraits, I aim to show how our environments shape our spirits. By combining figurative work with mixed-media still-lives, I want to spark a conversation about how we connect, how we share, and how we find beauty in the common rituals of daily life.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My work originates in the history surrounding the images and lifestyles of Black queer female, male, and nonbinary figures. An essential part of my painting process is connecting historical content to contemporary spaces, and how that relationship coexists. I explore its connection through the beauty of the body, navigating domestic life, objects, and overgrown, lush environments, produced traditionally in oil and mixed media. My work tells a story of presence, mystery, and the relationship of color euphoria. I challenge the memory of my work by manipulating transparency in the movement of figures or objects, making them seen or unseen, which reflects and questions identity. I evoke the power of Movement and memory to connect space and the body. I'm inspired to create pieces that reflect, in daily life, how the body changes and adapts to pleasure, growth, and bliss.

DARA’S BIO

Dara Haskins (b.1992, Baltimore, MD) has rooted her practice in Philadelphia, working primarily in painting, oil portraits, and figurative oil and mixed media paintings. Transferring from Anne Arundel Community College in 2017, Haskins received her BFA at The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 2019. Winning the Franklin C. Watkins Memorial Grant for gifted painters in (2019), The J Henry Scheidt Memorial Travel Scholarship to Cuba in (2019), Inliquid Diana Wind Fellowship (2022), and an artist and resident at 12 Gates Philadelphia (2023), Iconic Billboard series(2024). Black Star Film Fest- Best Narrative Award for “Food for Soul” (2025). She currently lives and works in Philadelphia.

Instagram: @artqueendee

BaCK RooM

URSULA JOHNSON

“Black in Bloom”

Black in Bloom is a photographic exploration of the connection between the organic beauty of Blackness and the natural world. Through portraits of Black women and girls combined with vibrant botanicals, this collection is a celebration of culture and confidence. It’s an invitation to pause and witness delicate details and radiant reflections. And it serves as a visual reminder to audaciously take up space — space to be, space to become, and space to bloom — wherever we are planted.

ABOUT URSULA

Philly Metro-based photographer Ursula Johnson has a heart for portrait, performance, culture, documentary, nature and wildlife work. And an eye that bends toward the beauty and breadth of Blackness. With a practical, purposeful approach, her vivid images challenge the sentiment of those who claim they "don't see color."

Ursula's work has been displayed in NY, NJ, and throughout Philadelphia, including group exhibits at TILT, Gravy Studio, iMPeRFeCT Gallery, Cherry St. Pier, Thinker Makers Society, Our House Culture Center, Unique Photo, Wanderlife Gallery, Painted Bride Project Space, and Woodmere Art Museum.

Ursula uses her passion for snapping culture, smiles, and signature styles to bring awareness to social issues, shine the Light through darkness, and invite her viewers to bask in the beauty of God's creation.

Website: ursaimages.com
Instagram: @practicallyyours & @ursaimages (new)

THe GReaT GLaSS eLeVaToR

CONNI BILLÉ

The Personal Is Political

Women's Liberation Graphics by Conni Billé

In the late 1960s women formed consciousness-raising groups where they shared intimate stories about their own lives and aspirations. They considered how they had accepted society's view of their limited roles and prospects, and they examined how they could change the future starting with themselves. The power they unleashed changed the social fabric of 20th Century America. Through protest art, women asserted their rights and demanded equality in domestic and professional realms.

Conni Billé's 1969 graphics were published by Liberation News Service and distributed to over 500 alternative newspapers across America reaching well over a million people. Hung on walls and discussed in consciousness-raising groups, her graphics became icons of the women's liberation movement.

This "Mother Earth" linocut is described in The Open Conspiracy; What America's Angry Generation is Saying: "Mother Earth traditionally passive and benevolent, is cultivated to produce by the aggressive male, but now she has her own weapon."

ABOUT CONNI

Since Billé moved to Germantown in 1979, she has held volunteer leadership roles at Allens Lane Art Center (1986-2000), YMCA/GLEC (2009- 2023), iMPeRFeCT Gallery (2013-2015) and Germantown Community Radio (2018-present), where she is Station Manager for afternoon programming. She is a founding member of Philadelphia Neighborhood Networks (2004), and the Philadelphia Public Banking Coalition (2015), and still serves on the Steering Committees.

THe ReDRooM

JAZ MALONE

Happy On The Inside

Raised in Detroit, Michigan, USA, and a 20 year member of the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania community, Jaz Malone works as a sequential artist. Their work falls somewhere between “what happened” and “what could have happened,” with a focus on visual texture that reflects the grainy nature of memory.

Website: jazimated.com

Instagram: @jazimated