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Black Like That: Our Lives as Living Praxis

Temple Contemporary
Pat Phillips, DIGGERS / The Procession, 2018; acrylic, pencil, oil pastel, airbrush, aerosol paint on canvas. Image courtesy of artist.
Pat Phillips, DIGGERS / The Procession, 2018; acrylic, pencil, oil pastel, airbrush, aerosol paint on canvas. Image courtesy of artist.
Pew Fellow Karyn Olivier, Here and Now / Glacier, Shard, Rock, 2015, lenticular photo in billboard structure. Photo courtesy of the artist. Olivier is an artist-in-residence on Temple Contemporary’s Black Like That: Our Lives as Living Praxis.
Pew Fellow Karyn Olivier, Here and Now / Glacier, Shard, Rock, 2015, lenticular photo in billboard structure. Photo courtesy of the artist. Olivier is an artist-in-residence on Temple Contemporary’s Black Like That: Our Lives as Living Praxis.
Pew Fellow Tiona McClodden, I prayed to the wrong god for you, 2019, six-channel multimedia installation. Image courtesy of artist.
Pew Fellow Tiona McClodden, I prayed to the wrong god for you, 2019, six-channel multimedia installation. Image courtesy of artist.

As artists-in-residence at Temple Contemporary, Pat Phillips and Pew Fellows Tiona Nekkia McClodden and Karyn Olivier explore the ways in which Black history and contemporary Black life are intertwined. Each creates new work informed by archival materials in Temple University’s extensive Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection and the artists’ respective research on the histories of various Philadelphia neighborhoods—with Phillips focused on West Philadelphia, McClodden on North Philadelphia, and Olivier on Germantown. A community advisory committee led by arts leader Linda Earle contributes to the project, which includes a public program series, digital archive, and multi-site exhibition presented at community sites around the city.

The total grant amount represents project funding plus an additional 20% in unrestricted general operating support.

Recipient
Temple Contemporary

Temple Contemporary

Part of Temple University’s Tyler School of Art, Temple Contemporary’s mission is “to creatively re-imagine the social function of art,” with programming that is shaped by an advisory council that presents questions of local relevance and international significance. 

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