Trail of Love (February 2024)

This marks the 4th year that I wasn't able to call my mom to sing Happy Birthday on the first day of February. Almost everything I create is in one way or another inspired by my mom and features her belongings and on February 1st, I try to do something intentional that channels her spirit & puts it out into the world. Each of these hearts includes an affirmation—either something my mama wrote about, something she said, or a message she’d wish to hear repeated. For instance, every morning as I left for school she’d say, “Make it a good day.” While I scoffed at the sentiment as an angsty teen, I developed a deep appreciation for it as an adult. In her final months, my mom & I took turns texting it to each other and it is a mantra I seek to live into everyday. On February 1st, I released eight of these stitched post-consumer plastic love messages out into the world. Both a meditative act and a capsule street art project, they trace a path along some of the streets my mom & I explored together. Each site-specific message marks a mural, mosaic, or local eatery that we visited during her visits to Philly. The process was both heartfelt and a little heartbreaking. I hope these tokens are discovered by the people who need them the most. Perhaps one of those people is you. Streets Dept Lead Contributor Eric Dale tagged along and captured the installation photos.

Pockets of Light (2023-present)

In order to grow, we all need a little light. The Delaware River Waterfront Trail offers just that—for both people and nature. In the newly installed Pockets of Light, I present a series of hand- and machine-sewn artworks made from post-consumer materials. These pieces depict the Delaware River and some of my favorite native plants found along the waterfront, and range in styles from hyper-realistic sculptures, to kinetic collages, to abstractly layered plastics that mimic stained glass. "Wayfinding waterscapes" along the Delaware pathway guide you to installations at four public piers accompanied by site-specific interactives created by experience designer Eric the Puzzler. Through eye-catching artwork, unique puzzles, local natural history, and participation prizes, Eric and I seek to enhance the nurturing effects of the waterfront, provide a fun way to forge a deeper connection with your surroundings, and take a little time to enjoy the light.

Interested in public art? Native plants? Creative reuse? Sewing? The outdoors? Natural history? Puzzles? Philadelphia? Fun prizes? This project is for you. Start by finding one of the plant installations on the piers or one of 9 the “wayfinding waterscapes” we’ve installed along the trail. Here’s a map! Now go run, walk, bike, scoot, SEPTA, or carpool your way over to the waterfront! Please note that as of September 2023, the piece at Race Street Pier has closed.

This project was commissioned by the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation

Press:

Pockets of Light uses trash to highlight nature along the Delaware River Waterfront-WHYY

A New Interactive Public Art Project On The Delaware River Waterfront Connects Visitors To Their Surroundings- Streets Dept

Pockets of Light presented by the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation 

Pockets of Light: a trash-to-treasure tale in the intersection of art and the environment- Green Philly News 

Read Me A World (Fall 2023)

Created by Marisol Rosa-Shapiro, Read Me a World was an experiment in public art, creative placemaking, and building a common infrastructure for public acts of intimacy and connection. With the support of a cohort of Facilibrarians, readers of all ages and reading levels were invited to connect with their expressive voices and to read aloud to loved ones within unique, artist-designed, pop-up reading nook installations throughout Philadelphia’s Liberty Lands Park. It premiered in the 2023 Philadelphia Fringe Festival, Free Fringe Philly, and was a “Panel Pick” in the Performances for Young Audiences cohort of the Cannonball Festival. I designed one of the five pop-up nooks, entitled "The Open Sea." Using post-consumer plastics, upcycled textiles, broken umbrellas, and salvaged furniture, I created large-scale waves, coral reef reading shelves, tactile seaweed, and Edna Agnes, a kinetic sculpture octopus puppet.

Accumulation (2021)

3' x 5'

Repurposed plastic, cotton, denim, polyester, paper, upholstery blends, and viscose and cotton embroidery thread. Hand and machine sewn. 

Available for purchase.

Created for and displayed at Good Buy Supply, 1737 E Passyunk Ave, Philadelphia, PA from 2021-2022

This textile landscape was created from discarded items the I collected on the street within a 6-block radius of the original installation site, Good Buy Supply,  a general store dedicated to sustainability and low-waste.  Additional materials were provided by the store owners. Often a symbol of natural beauty and wonder, this mountain scene is a literal accumulation of community “trash.” Viewers are encouraged to consider, ‘What is our relationship to the items we buy and throw away?’ ‘How do our decisions as consumers impact the environment?’ It may feel like a mountain too steep to climb, but there are many ways to explore a lower-waste lifestyle, from buying plastic-free goods and reusing packaging, to shopping locally and secondhand, to donating rather than tossing unwanted items, to advocating for changes in legislation around single-use plastics. The piece seeks to serve as an encouraging reminder that every step counts. The problem with waste and its environmental impact is a mountain worth climbing.