Event photography (2015-2025) for the organizer, the Johnson House Historic Site in Germantown, a neighborhood in the northwest section of Philadelphia.

The Stand With Ukraine Listening Loom (SWULL) was a community engagement and pop-up art installation at the Gifford Playground in a far northeast neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that was created by artists Kathryn Pannepacker and Tieshka Smith. The project was intended to connect with newly resettled Ukrainian refugees in the city. It ran for six weeks starting on September 15 through October 29, 2022.

#Celebrate PEP: The exhibit was a re-creation of the very classroom at SCI-Chester in which the class was taught,” shares Smith. “It is a testament to PEP's ability to cultivate a learning community where students feel empowered and supported to express themselves in such a compelling and honest way.”

BRING YOUR OWN BAG (#BYOBPHL) BILLBOARDS PROJECT was one of the tools

in the campaign to reduce the number of plastic bags in Philly’s streets and in waste stream.  Billboards around the city highlighted coalition members to amplify their voice for the protection of our city’s health and environment through promoting reusable bags. This project was commissioned by the Trash Academy of Mural Arts Philadelphia.  

I served as an artist-in-residence from May 13-May 27, 2018, in

partnership with those who live and work in neighborhoods designated as Evansville’s (Indiana) Promise Zone. Among other things, I created a collection of images including street photos and portraits from the “Why I’m Still

Here: Humans of 47713?” series. This project was commissioned by the Evansville-Vanderburgh Public Library.  

Street and documentary photographs of the southwestern Indiana city of Evansville.

This project was commissioned by the Evansville-Vanderburgh Public Library.  

Photo essay commissioned by the Philadelphia Assembled team in 2017 that interrogated

gentrification and displacement in the Olde Kensington neighborhood in Philadelphia. Selections of this essay were exhibited at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  

Racism Is A Sickness (2015-2016) was an art and community engagement project consisting of a series of photos of 14 Philadelphians who partnered with me for a six week period during the

summer of 2015 to create a visual depiction of the struggles we all have with racism. It was

conceived out of my own personal frustration with all of the news of police brutality cases and

rollbacks of legal protections like the Voting Rights Act, etc.

Every ZIP Philadelphia was a community storytelling project with the goal of taking WHYY to all 48 ZIP codes in Philadelphia. Through radio stories, photo essays, public events, and more, Every ZIP Philadelphia worked with community residents to create a documentary portrait of Philadelphia across space, medium, and time.

Portraits of Brewerytown (2012-2013) was a photography project by Tieshka Smith that

highlights the unique traditions and aspects of Brewerytown, a north Philadelphia

neighborhood. The project aimed to counter negative media coverage of the area by

highlighting its assets and developing a more positive image of the community.

Oak Park After Dark, January - February 2015: Night photography of Oak Park Illinois

landmarks and interesting storefronts. An exploration of public and shared spaces and

how they tell a story about a community.

Private Pain, Silent Struggle was a portrait series by Philadelphia photographer Tieshka

Smith that documented people of color and the objects and activities that help them cope with

prejudice in everyday life. Smith wanted her subjects to be involved in the creative process

and have a say in how they were portrayed.