Grounds For Sculpture, a Hamilton, New Jersey–based museum and sculpture garden, presented “Spiral Q: The Parade” from April 2023 to January 2024. This exhibition of multimedia artworks was crafted by Philadelphia-based art organization Spiral Q, a group of artists and activists who started their work in 1996, during the HIV/AIDS crisis. The group continues to mix art and social commentary, and works in neighborhoods and schools.
Every year in the fall, Spiral Q holds a “Peoplehood Parade & Pageant” in Philadelphia, a procession of puppets, banners, and other works of art created by local groups and activists. The event has been happening since 2000, and the artworks and groups make statements on local issues (such as opposition to the proposal to put an arena in Philadelphia’s Chinatown, with the No Arena in Chinatown Solidarity Group) as well as international ones (such as support for Palestine, with the Philly Palestine Coalition and other organizations).
The Grounds For Sculpture exhibit “Spiral Q: The Parade” displayed a number of Spiral Q’s puppets and artworks from the past years. One group of portraits, made between 2018 and 2020 by artists Elaine Arias and Angela Wang, memorialized trans people from Pennsylvania who had died in past years, many of them murdered.
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Some of the art included statements on housing habitability and rental prices. “Can my house be a place to breathe,” read the handpainted message on one house-shaped object—made with Philly Thrive in protest of the Philadelphia Energy Solutions oil refinery, which contributed to the city’s status as an asthma capital. (Later, the refinery would explode.) “We need rent control now,” read another, made by the Philadelphia Rent Control Coalition. (Philadelphia does not have rent stabilization—although tenants are advocating for a change.) Also on view were a number of portraits made by artist Brice Patterson of resident organizers at the University City Townhomes in Philadelphia. Despite the residents’ fight to save their 70-unit affordable housing development—and their protests against a loss of critical housing for Black residents—the complex was torn down in 2024. Plans are currently underway to build a new affordable complex.
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