Thanks to a grant from the William Penn Foundation, we are excited to announce our next exhibition collaboration with SEAMAAC titled Indivisible: Stories of Strength, an exploration of identity and culture among native and immigrant Philadelphians. This exhibition will feature a video series, collaborative art pieces, and new artwork in collage, ceramics, and photography created by artists from SEAMAAC’s art resiliency workshops led by artists Shira Walinsky, Marguerita Hagan, Eugenio Salas, and Donna Backues. This installment builds on our first partner exhibition with SEAMAAC from Spring 2025, Through the Eyes of Philadelphia’s New Americans: Art, Resilience, and Community.
SEAMAAC’s video series for this exhibition will incorporate clips of interviews with new immigrants and descendants of immigrants who chose Philadelphia as their home. As attendees move through the exhibition and explore the artwork, they can listen and watch the interviews to deepen the artwork’s impact and significance. The interviewees, who may or may not be one of the artists themselves, are fellow Philadelphians who will share their stories of their identity, culture, and lived experiences in Philadelphia, whether they are recent immigrants or 2nd, 3rd, and 4th generation descendants of immigrants. The full-length interviews will also be available online.
In addition to the video series, the exhibition will feature collaborative art pieces and new artwork created by artists from SEAMAAC’s art resiliency workshops. Creating art within a community is a powerful act. It allows us to collectively envision a better future, build connections across diverse backgrounds, and cultivate empathy and understanding. SEAMAAC’s resiliency art programming brings together people from around the world, offering them a space to learn new skills, create art, and connect on a personal level. Through this shared creative process, participants not only enjoy the act of making but also build meaningful relationships. Creativity becomes a bridge between cultures and experiences, ultimately fostering resilience and strengthening community bonds.
Lead support for this project is provided by the William Penn Foundation.
About SEAMAAC: Founded in 1984 by Cambodian, Chinese, Laotian, Hmong, and Vietnamese refugees from Southeast Asia, the founding vision of SEAMAAC was to unite Philadelphia's Southeast Asian communities into a dynamic refugee-led coalition. This allowed small ethnic communities to share resources and create a unified voice and effective advocacy for the city's Southeast Asian community. Over the last four decades, SEAMAAC has expanded its services to other immigrants/refugees as well as to native-born Philadelphians of every race and ethnicity. Today, we work on local, regional and national levels, united by a shared commitment to “Build Better Communities.” Our commitment to serving people regardless of race or national origins has inspired our mission and vision in building a stronger society based on the principles of justice and equity for all.