About
Shira Walinsky is an interdisciplinary artist and teacher. Her work centers on people and places in the City of Philadelphia. She has worked in Philadelphia for 20 years on murals, paintings, photography, films and other public participatory work. The map can be a portrait of places and the face a map of our experiences. She is interested in how the vibrant and the sensory can amplify the stories of people and place. This manifests in bus wraps, films, photography, painting and murals. In 2012 she co-founded Southeast by Southeast with Mural Arts Philadelphia. Southeast by Southeast is a community space co-created with social workers and artists and community leaders for and with refugee and immigrant communities. Shira strives to create innovative projects which elevate the resilience of immigrant and refugee stories.
She currently co-teaches in Philadelphia with Mural Arts Executive Director, Jane Golden, at the University of Pennsylvania.
shira.walinsky@gmail.com
muralarts.org/journey2home
vimeo.com/162314324
CV
Public Projects
Making Home Movies | 2018-2020
Creating six short films focusing on intergenerational experience of refugee experiences
Co-curated and organized six film projects with ESL classes in Southeast, Northeast and Southwest Philadelphia.
Co-created three films
Open City | 2019
Ten minute film project with Furness High School ESL students and Poet Ujjwala Maharjan
Better Life Brights Lights | 2019
A ten minute film created collaboratively with Karen leader Naw Doh and members of the Karen community in Philadelphia
PLLKK! | 2019
You Are Here, a ten minute film created collaboratively with members of the Bhutanese Neapli community in Philadelphia and poet Ujjwala Maharjan
Southeast By Southeast | 2011-2020
Co-Founder and lead artist of Southeast by Southeast a community arts and educational space dedicated to new refugees and immigrant communities in South Philadelphia through the Mural Arts Program Philadelphia
Co-Conceptualized and implemented workshops in a South Philadelphia storefront space to address issues and needs of refugee families from Burma and Bhutan in conjunction with Lutheran Children and Family Services.
Developed programming for the storefront
Created 6 murals Language Lab, Farming Up The Mountain, From the Mountains to The City Namaste Market, From Pueblo to Philadelphia, Southeast By Southeast storefront murals
Organized monthly storefront events celebrating local culture
Developed platforms for refugee and immigrant artists
Created an arts & literacy curriculum for ESL learners
Created collaborative mapping and writing projects for new refugee communities
Worked in Furnace High School ESL class to create short videos with students
Fostered relationships with caseworkers translators and community leaders
Worked with PhillyCam staff Laura Deutch and Growing Home Gardens founder Adam Forbes to create a teen Photo and video project
Sales and exhibitions of traditional art forms and crafts from Burma and Bhutan
W Hotel Philadelphia | 2020
Lobby mural commission
Comcast Center Campus | 2020
4th floor LIFT LAB commision
Comcast Center Campus | 2019
4th floor mural lobby commission
Philadelphia Airport | 2018
Mural art commision
Monument Lab Philadelphia | 2017
Created interactive refugee and immigrant news kiosk, including two books
Mapping Migration | 2017
Mural commision located at 10th and Dickinson
47 Stories | 2016
Collaboration with artist Laura Deutch to create audio stories about the 47 bus route and a bus wrap about migration
Refugee Women’s Textile Initiative/Women’s Way Grant | 2014-2016
A collective of refugee and non refugee women and the sewing studio MADE who work together to provide sewing classes and opportunities for refugee women to gain sewing skills, continue traditional crafts and create events to display and sell work through Southeast by Southeast
December 2015 - Weave Sew Make a series of workshops for refugee women to build their skills through working with local designers. Weave Sew Make culminated in a sale/ exhibition of work by refugee women.
Journey2 Home | 2014
Designed two large scale murals around mapping home
Developed mapping and writing curriculum for home insecure youth and mothers
Worked with a project manager and artists to conceptualize monthly events to spark dialogue and artworks around the problem of home insecurity and youth at a storefront space in West Philadelphia
Education
1999 University of Pennsylvania
M.F.A - Painting
1995 Sarah Lawrence College
B.A - Studio Art/Film history
1993 Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art
additional coursework
Teaching Experience
2006-2020 University of Pennsylvania
Big Picture/Mural Arts in Philadelphia co-teaching with Director of the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program Jane Golden
Developed interdisciplinary syllabus focusing on murals, arts and social change, socially engaged art and the creation of a public mural project
2015-2019 Moore College of Art
Adjunct professor in Studio and Social Practice course
2003-2015 Drexel University
Adjunct Professor of Introductory Drawing, Figure Drawing and Painting
2011-2016 University of the Arts
PIE program teacher’s workshops
Exhibitions
2018 Philadelphia Airport mural commission
2017 Monument Lab
2016 Gravy Studio Love Thy Neighbor, two person exhibit, photos of refugee life in South Philadelphia
2016 Asian Arts Initiative Community based and Solo work Southeast by Southeast
2015 Asian Arts Initiative - Created mural for Laos in the House exhibit about Laotian experience in the U.S
2015 Inliquid Mural Engagement Studios 222 Vine Street Phila PA
2014 Asian Arts Initiative Philadelphia PA - Participate Group show
2014 Inliquid four person show at the Crane building
2013 Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts - Beyond the Paint: Philadelphia’s Mural Arts - group show and studio artist in residence
Residencies
2012 Hui No’eau Hawaii
Guest Speaker/Panelist
2020 The 41st Annual Ethnography in Education Research Forum University of Pennsylvania - Presenter
2018 Celebration of Writing and Literacy - Presenter
2016 In/Out: Summer Symposium The Philadelphia Mural Arts Program & Moore College of Art
Ethics, Attention and Intention in Socially Engaged Art - panelist
2015 Haverford College - The Wall in Our Heads: American Artists and the Berlin Wall – panelist
2015 Philadelphia Mural Arts Program & Moore College of Art of Art and Design - In/Out: Time Pacing and Perspective in Socially Engaged Art – panelist
2015 Drexel University Gender and Urban Spaces class – Taught by Melissa Kim
2014 North American Refugee Health Conference Rochester NY - presenter on Southeast by Southeast
2014 University of Pennsylvania Asian American Studies class taught by Fariah Kahn
2013 Haverford College - Monuments and Memories taught by Paul Farber
2013 Barnes Foundation - Arts Impact on Space and Structure
Awards and Grants
2019 Independence Foundation Grant Recipient
2017 Americans For The Arts 2017 Public Art Network Year in Review for 47 Stories
2016 Leeway Foundation Art and Change Grant
2014-2016 Refugee Women’s Textile Initiative/ Women’s Way Grant
Publications
2017 From Here To There - Picture Stories of Refugee Women’s Lives
Created Collaboratively with Bhutanese, Burmese refugee women in Philadelphia and Translators
Produced with Mural Arts Philadelphia
2017 We Made It and Will Make It: Untold Stories of Immigrant and Refugee Youth
Created collaboratively with refugee and immigrant youth
Produced with Mural Arts Philadelphia
2014 My Future Starts Here: The Story of Karen, Chin and Nepali Youth in Philadelphia
Produced with Mural Arts Philadelphia
As Contributor
2018 Creating Social Change Through Creativity: Anti-Oppressive Arts Based Research Methodologies
https://www.amazon.com/Creating-Social-Change-Through-Creativity/dp/3319521284
2016 Art In The Public Sphere