“Today We Are Possible”
Ongoing photography exhibit explores the intersections of gender and wealth through the lens of six Philadelphia women captured in stunning, intimate portraits by Gregory Wright
VISIT
Joseph E. Coleman Northwest Regional Library | 68 West Chelten Avenue (Greene St. & Chelten Ave.) | On view through January 31, 2025
At the exhibit? Be sure to tag us on social media @womenswayphilly with the hashtag #TodayWeArePossible to let us know!
ABOUT
In 2023, WOMEN'S WAY conducted a comprehensive, mixed-methods research initiative to understand the key drivers of wealth inequality for women in Philadelphia. We surveyed and interviewed 400 Philadelphia-based women from all walks of life about what wealth looked like for them, their aspirations, realities, and challenges with wealth building on an individual, familial, and community level. “Today We Are Possible” features the wealth experiences of Ivy, Faith, Ingrid, Tracey, Tamara, and Taina, six women who participated in qualitative interviews.
After careful analysis, our research team categorized the findings into five dimensions of wealth experience: 1) Stability and Opportunity, 2) Freedom, Joy, and Belonging, 3) Health and Healing, 4) Family and Community Care, 5) Love, Resource, and Community Support. Today We Are Possible” grounds these themes in the real-life experiences of the six featured women, captured by Gregory Wright.
Parsed into mini collections for each dimension, the portraiture in “Today We Are Possible” contextualizes the dimensions in the microcosm of the six featured women, as well as the decades-long tradition of Black feminist thought. As the viewer walks through each dimension, they are first met with writing from great thinkers such as Octavia Butler, Gwendolyn Brooks, Toni Morrison, Mari Evans, and Alice Walker. Their revolutionary words invoke an intersectional lens to view the portraits, which are paired with excerpts from the subjects’ oral interviews.
Together, the written, visual, and oral traditions in “Today We Are Possible” equip us to contend with multiple structures of power, and orient us to a gender justice that works in tandem with racial justice, disability justice, economic justice, and so on. The voices of the subjects join their Black feminist foremothers’ song, calling us to collectively reimagine Abundance, rooted in liberation.
Past exhibit locations: Free Library of Philadelphia Central Library (February 2024-May 2024), Cecil B. Moore Library (June 2024-September 2024).
AUDIO TOUR
Many thanks to Christopher Mundy who recorded and produced the audio tour. Special thanks to Clovernook Center for the Blind & Visually Impaired for generously funding the production of the audio tour through their Arts & Accessibility Initiative.
