The Women’s Mobile Museum

A new Philadelphia museum is bringing its exhibit to a neighborhood near you.

The Women’s Mobile Museum aims to make its exhibits accessible to neighborhoods where art spaces are limited. Artist-activist Zanele Muholi, along with the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center, selected ten female artists of color who have little to no experience in the arts and provided them with resources to develop as fine-art photographers. Project director Lori Waselchuck wanted the Women’s Mobile Museum to seek out creative voices that break away from western artistic traditions.

Artist Muffy Ashley Torres used the tools she gained through the program to document how gentrification in her Philadelphia community was affecting her life. Artist Danielle Morris’ photographs emphasized the West Philadelphia home she grew up in. Morris’ photographs aim to aid to the “collective black memory.” Artist Davelle Barnes used her photography to speak on the racist, body shaming regulations she experienced while in the U.S Army.

The Women’s Mobile museum exhibit “Who is Art for?” directly challenges our notions of the artist-viewer relationship by using local emerging artists. The program provides them with a platform to tell their stories.

Viewer’s who are blind and/or deaf are able to access the museum through braille text and the audio collections each artist recorded for their series.

When you visit the Mobile Museum, the artists are on site. You’re able to ask them questions and get know them better. The artists being readily available makes the experience of viewing their art much more intimate compared to traditional museum institutions.

While the exhibit provides a platform for bringing women from various backgrounds together, everyone is able to see themselves in their art.

The Women’s Mobile Museum will travel to Juniata Park Boys and Girls Club from September 27th to October 13th, then to the Dixon House from October 27th to November 17th. In December the Museum will be at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and then at the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center in January.