Past Projects

This page highlights selected past projects by Tieshka K. Smith, showcasing the breadth of her work in visual storytelling, community engagement, and memory preservation. Each project reflects her commitment to documenting, interpreting, and amplifying the stories, rituals, and cultural practices that shape communities. While these works are rooted in specific moments in time, they continue to inform her ongoing practice and illuminate the lasting impact of community-driven creativity and archival work.

The Stand With Ukraine Listening Loom

A six-week pop-up art installation at Gifford Playground in northeast Philadelphia, SWULL was co-created by Tieshka K. Smith and Kathryn Pannepacker to engage newly resettled Ukrainian refugees. Running from September 15 to October 29, 2022, the project fostered dialogue, connection, and creative participation, transforming the playground into a space of shared storytelling, cultural exchange, and community support. Through this work, Tieshka integrated her visual storytelling with design research and memory practices, documenting interactions, capturing experiences, and creating a living archive that honors the narratives and resilience of the community.

#CelebratePEP

#CelebratePEP was the exhibit phase of Tieshka K. Smith’s artist residency with Eastern University’s Prison Education Program (PEP) recreated the very classroom at SCI-Chester where the course was taught. During the residency, Tieshka co-taught a class and guided students through a process to prepare for the exhibit, supporting them in expressing their experiences and perspectives through creative work. Because she was embedded in a secure facility, Tieshka relied entirely on memory and student-generated materials—writing assignments and classroom discussions—to document and reconstruct the space for the exhibit. This approach reflects her commitment to design research and memory work, preserving the insights, narratives, and creative processes of the class as a living archive of educational and artistic engagement.

#BYOBPHL Billboard Campaign

The BRING YOUR OWN BAG (#BYOBPHL) Billboards Project was commissioned by the Trash Academy of Mural Arts Philadelphia, in 2019. Tieshka K. Smith photographed community members and advocacy partners holding their reusable bags for a series of billboards across the city. The project amplified the voices of coalition members in a campaign to reduce single-use plastic bags in Philadelphia, promoting environmental awareness and civic responsibility. Through her photography, Tieshka highlighted the people behind the movement, connecting visual storytelling with public advocacy and community engagement.

What's Good In My Hood/We Still Here (Evansville, IN)

Tieshka K. Smith served as an artist-in-residence from May 13–27, 2018, partnering with residents of neighborhoods designated as Evansville’s Promise Zone. The project produced a collection of street photography and portraits, including the series We Still Here: Humans of 47713?, highlighting the people, stories, and resilience of the community. Commissioned by the Evansville-Vanderburgh Public Library.

Making Way for Change: Evansville, Indiana

Making Way for Change: Evansville, Indiana was a series of street and documentary photographs by Tieshka K. Smith capturing the city of Evansville, Indiana. Commissioned by the Evansville-Vanderburgh Public Library, the project documents the city’s people, spaces, and everyday life through a lens of observation and storytelling.

Boundaries.Battlegrounds.Blessings

Boundaries.Battlegrounds.Blessings (2017) was a photo essay by Tieshka K. Smith commissioned by the Philadelphia Assembled team, exploring gentrification and displacement in the Olde Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia. The series examines how neighborhood change affects community identity, memory, and belonging. Selections of the essay were exhibited at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Racism Is A Sickness

An art and community engagement project by Tieshka K. Smith, featuring a series of photographs of 14 Philadelphians who collaborated with her over six weeks in the summer of 2015. The project visualized the personal and collective struggles with racism, inspired by Smith’s response to ongoing police brutality cases and the rollback of civil rights protections. Through portraiture, the work created space for reflection, dialogue, and acknowledgment of systemic inequities affecting everyday life.

In 2016, the project traveled as an installation to three venues in Philadelphia: The Art Church of West Philadelphia (February 2016), Community College of Philadelphia (April 2016) and the Philadelphia Ethical Society (June 2016).

ZIP Photo Essay: Beyond Faith at Faith Chapel in East Germantown, 19144

ZIP Photo Essay: Beyond Faith (Faith Chapel, East Germantown, 19144). As part of the Every ZIP Philadelphia initiative, Tieshka K. Smith’s photographic work documented Faith Chapel in East Germantown and how it combatted hunger and food insecurity through its pantry and food collection program. Focusing on the people, spaces, and activities within the church, her images highlighted the rhythms of community life, faith-based practices, and local identity. Through her lens, Smith captured the nuances of everyday experience, contributing a visual record that complements the broader storytelling goals of the Every ZIP Philadelphia project.

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

This photography project from 2012 to 2013 by Tieshka K. Smith highlighted the distinctive traditions, culture, and everyday life of Brewerytown, a North Philadelphia neighborhood. Responding to negative media narratives, the project sought to showcase the community’s assets and foster a more positive, nuanced portrayal of its residents and spaces. Through visual storytelling, Smith emphasized local identity, resilience, and the lived experiences that often go unseen in mainstream representations.

Oak Park After Dark

Oak Park After Dark (January–February 2015). In this night photography project, Tieshka K. Smith captured Oak Park, Illinois landmarks and distinctive storefronts, exploring how public and shared spaces reflect the life and character of a community. Through her lens, the project examines the visual and cultural narratives embedded in everyday urban environments, revealing how architecture, light, and spatial arrangement shape communal identity and experience.

Private Pain, Silent Struggle

This portrait series by Philadelphia photographer Tieshka K. Smith documented people of color alongside the objects and activities that help them navigate and cope with prejudice in everyday life. Central to the project was Smith’s collaborative approach: participants were actively involved in the creative process and had a voice in how they were portrayed. Through these portraits, the series highlights resilience, self-expression, and the nuanced ways individuals negotiate the challenges of systemic bias, reflecting Smith’s commitment to community-centered storytelling and participatory documentation.

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