Eustace Mamba Francis, (born Manhattan, NY – 7/1992) is a fine artist, photographer, printmaker, and graphic designer driven by innovation and quality.

Eustace’s fine arts practice is an extension of his obsessive documentation of complex, contemporary thoughts and issues through simple expressions. Eustace strives to convey the unique perspective of a first-generation child of immigrants and to capture the complex interplay of history and identity, involved in straddling multiple worlds and cultures.

Eustace’s artwork is an adventure into a vibrant world, which he believes is overlooked, and, as a result, under and misrepresented and underappreciated, by Western classically trained academics. He has chosen to explore themes and images of people of color in studio work, given this lack of proper representation, in the canon of Western art history.

annick Lowery was born in New York City and raised throughout the south and midwest. The only son of two fine artists, he rebelled and studied Advertising Design at Columbia College Chicago. Working in kitchens throughout college, he began a dual career as a Sous Chef. Outside of the kitchen, he maintained his art practice while collaborating on several independent creative projects across the US. Working primarily with wheat-paste in outdoor spaces, the recent quarantine restrictions crystalized his focus on paper collage. Lowery now resides in Philadelphia, PA where he is developing a club for local paper collage artists.

Naomieh Jovin is a visual artist with a focus in photography. She received her BFA in Photography and Digital Arts from Moore College of Art and Design (‘17). Her work is influenced by the absence of her late mother as well as her experiences growing up Haitian-American in the United States. In her work, she utilizes appropriated photos from old family albums and incorporates her own photographs to try and recreate similar moments. This process is meant to illustrate resistance and intergenerational trauma and how we carry them through our bodies. The incorporation of appropriated family photos, writings from relatives, and her own personal work allows Jovin to reflect on her family history, while paying homage to generations before her and their generational resistance against erasure.

Naomieh Jovin currently lives and works in Philadelphia, PA.

Forging professional careers in makeup, wardrobe, production design, graphic design and now, camera and creative direction, attention to detail is in her blood. With humble beginnings in makeup and wardrobe, Simone worked in the commercial and film worlds applying her unique aesthetic. In 2018, she went on to attend Sundance Film Festival for \”What Death Leaves Behind\” (2018) as the costume designer, as well as a principal part of the makeup team.

An avid techie, she continued to study visual art and committed full-time to the camera department as 1st assistant camera, and now camera operator and director. Continuing to direct, Simone cross-pollinates her creative versatility, applying her technical experience to graphic design and directorial work.

I am a Black college grad that studied Animation and Glass. With my work, I would like to continue down the path and show others in my community (young and old) that there are more options available to them than the limits we know. Hopefully, my work will inspire others to join the crafts and explore outside of what is commonplace.

Shanel Edwards is a Black, queer, non-binary, first-generation Jamaican, Philadelphia based, dancer, photographer, director, and poet.Their work centers Black Queer Femme-hood, intimacy as a tool for healing, and radical joy. They create art in a world where tenderness and rage coexist. There are no sharp corners but when needed, there are knives. Shanel’s artwork is a plush landscape for laughter and slow dancing with one another. Shanel’s creations should bring you to ease, should bring you closer.

My background for the past few decades has involved steady work in the service industry, in arts distribution, and volunteering in many video productions. I have had a close association with the Philadelphia arts community for many years – I went to art school and have acted and modeled, and supported arts and artists all along the way. Through my involvement at Scribe Video Center, WYBE, and DUTV, I became drawn to the opportunities that video makes possible. All of this led to the development of my first program for PhillyCam, “5 on the Go”, a series of short glimpses into various artists and events around town. This evolved into “The Inside Look” a short form documentary series now in production of it’s second episode. I am from, of, and for the community and operate under a simple and effective principle: Care, Share, and Be there!

My goal is to develop “The Inside Look”, an intimate look into the process and outcomes of notable, but overlooked, African-American artists in Philadelphia.

A native of Brazil, Adenilson Dos Santos (Mestre Doutor) has practiced capoeira, a Brazilian folk and martial art for the past 41 years. As a result of his achievements, he was granted permanent residency and US citizenship as an “Alien with Extraordinary Abilities”. Mestre Doutor is the founder, artistic and executive director of Project Capoeira, whose mission is to preserve, develop, and share Capoeira. Our activities grow intercultural understanding and a sense of community through arts education and social outreach. We use Capoeira as a vehicle to promote other Brazilian arts and to preserve Brazilian culture in Greater Philadelphia.

Tash Billington is a Philadelphia Native who uses art as a way to heal, motivate and give back to the world. She specializes in Photography, Painting and Community Engagement. Best known for assisting on large scale public mural projects and being a part of the Women’s Mobile Museum Collective. Tash has currently worked with Philadelphia Mural Arts, The Philadelphia Photo Arts Center and Amber Art and Design. In 2019 Tash was one of the 180 selected for the New York Times Portfolio Review out of 3500 applicants worldwide.

Ginssiyo Apara is an artist, and theorist working with various media, ranging from sound, sculpture, painting, poetry, and writing. A common theme that runs throughout his work centers around manipulating found plastic materials, synthesizing them with classic fine art materials.

Recently, he has begun exploring the use of “playful” materials such as puffy paint, sequins, vintage stickers of nostalgic cartoon imagery, repurposing and arranging discarded items. He is interested in deconstructing the definitions and distinctions made between “art” and “trash”.

In deconstructing these two categories his work aims to construct an allegory of the trials and tribulations of the black community in America. Example: the analogy of the simultaneous “trash”-like treatment of the black demographic yet overconsumption of the culture. Through this, he conceptualizes this notion of a “recycling” of black culture and existence.

The recent ban of plastic bags is the ban on the black existence, yet in reality blackness will exist long after. Blackness is the creation that can’t be recycled, that never decomposes.