June 20, 2020 - March 3, 2021

Philadelphia artist Symone Salib is a Cuban/Egyptian portrait painter and street artist who draws people, mostly people of color, to share their images, to make them visible, and to highlight the universal connections among all of us. Her portrait drawings feature graphic outlines that boldly define the figures and are often combined with words to provide context.  

Inspired by seeing the work of other Philadelphia street artists, Salib said that she wanted to “contribute to this public space that everyone else is using.” She was interested in adding her voice and artistic vision to the public art conversation because street art is a powerful means to communicate by creating visual messages of love, beautiful imagery, or commentaries about current social and political events.  

The feedback from others has energized Salib, “The more I put up, the more people started to reach out to me…That’s all I could ever ask for—that you could make artwork and make someone feel something. Or that they find comfort in something that you made. That is a beautiful thing to be able to make and give to the world.” Since 2017, Salib has given to Philadelphia a series of work that has depicted black, Indigenous, and people of color to bring public awareness to their stories and to represent identities that continue to suffer from on-going racism and societal injustices. 

Visit @symonesalibstudio