By age 5, Philadelphia native Tatyana Woodard knew she was different. Born with a male body, she felt like a girl. She preferred girls’ clothes and loved White Diamonds, her grandmother’s perfume. Over time, Woodard’s conviction and hidden stash of feminine outfits grew. “At 16, I was put out of my house due to my
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Steven CW Taylor founded Ubuntu Fine Art, displaying his photography from Philly and on international travels. The Beholder Story and photography by Jenny Roberts Massive, glossy photographs line the walls at Ubuntu Fine Art in Germantown. Each image serves as a portal to another time and place, says gallery owner and photographer Steven CW Taylor.
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I’m wearing spandex right now. No, I’m not at my computer in an Olympic leotard or even Lululemon athleisure. I’m wearing Levi’s jeans, and though they are almost all cotton, they have about 3% spandex, a kind of plastic, woven into them. The unfortunate fact that they have plastic in them prevents them from being
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Antoine Mapp used to approach drug-dealing teens near his West Philly home and ask if they wanted to learn to play drums to earn a few dollars. “Sometimes they’d say, ‘Get the [hell] out of here,’ then … they’d try it,” says Mapp, 41, whose grandmother started a community drumline, the West Powelton Steppers &
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Tucked into a little corner of Germantown, there’s a backyard garden unlike any other. At the entrance there’s a black-and-white sign with a combined triangle and circle logo. After passing through the barbed-wire gate, there’s a stone path passing several trees and plants along the side of the house. In the back, a circular garden
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Tapeta Mayson, Philadelphia’s 2020-2021 poet laureate, knows that residents of Germantown can have mixed feelings about water. The area is susceptible to flooding during heavy rains and the loss and displacement that sometimes comes as a result. A native of Liberia who grew up in North Philly and Germantown, Mayson—in addition to being a poet—is
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About 10 years ago, I had a crazy idea—one I didn’t quite have the guts to do myself. It was to host a live event structured as a talk show where I would interview people who had appeared in Grid. My feeling was that, no matter how much I love print, there was nothing quite
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It’s one of my favorite lines from the new play “The Garbologists” running now through December 5 at the Suzanne Roberts Theater. This sanitation saying refers to avoiding danger by knowing from experience what’s in what garbage bag just by looking at it. If there are a bunch of black contractor bags near some wooden
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This 16-ounce jar holds all the waste produced on the set of “Citywide.” Photography Courtesy Fishtown Films. A 16-ounce mason jar filled with trash feels like a trophy to Emily Gallagher and Austin Elston, cofounders of Fishtown Films. It was the designated place for all waste produced during the creation of their first feature-length film, “Citywide.”
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With tuition bills looming, Drexel student Janyah Green launched her own candle-making business last year, vending online and at local events under the name Monae Designs. Selling scents such as peppermint and eucalyptus, as well as seasonal specials, the 22-year-old, fifth-year architecture student has successfully created her very own Black-owned, Philly-local brand while studying and
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Fishtown native Conrad Benner was in community college, working at a gelato shop in 2011 when he started capturing Philadelphia’s street art. Connecting his love of photography and writing, Benner began what is now Streets Dept, a full-grown photoblog and community news source that documents street art and artists. From WordPress to TikTok, Benner has
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