Mural Arts Teams Up With LGBTQ Organizations to Present “Showing Face”


Images from the "Showing Face" project.

Images from the “Showing Face” project.

Next Wednesday, June 24th, Philadelphia’s Mural Arts Program will dedicate a project a year in the making called Showing Face at the John C. Anderson Apartments. However, this isn’t just another art show: It’s a collaboration between youth from The Attic Youth Center and seniors from the Anderson Apartments, along with participants from William Way Community Center, that tries to bridge the cross-generational gap in the LGBTQ community.

“The goal of Showing Face is to situate the contemporary queer experience in its larger context of an intensely oppressive past, and give youth the opportunity to reflect upon their moment in history,” said reps from Mural Arts. “Mural Arts created a space for young people to appreciate their current freedoms while they figure out the next steps in achieving acceptance. The main goals have been to deepen the youth and senior relationship between the Attic and Anderson, and celebrate the diversity of Philadelphia’s LGBTQ community through this photography project.”

The project isn’t just limited to walls, either: If you look closely throughout the city, you’ll see pieces of Showing Face in unexpected places, form billboards to bus shelters. Also, artist Brandon Dean has compiled a book of the project, which hopes to “give youth the opportunity to reflect upon their moment in history, all the while fostering a lasting relationship between the youth and their elders. The work in this book serves not only as documentation of the process but also as a visual exploration of the project’s content.”

The dedication on the 24th is scheduled at 10:30 am, and will feature  Jane Golden, Executive Director of the Mural Arts Program, Mark Segal of Philadelphia Gay News, artists Ashley Kolodner and Brandon Dean, and participants from the Showing Face project. For more information, click here.