Spring Forward with Us
Proof of Life
In conversation with our resident artists
Before the work takes shape, before audiences gather, before anything is presented publicly, lives are being lived in real time.
"Proof of Life" begins there.
Three artists. One question.
Over the past week, we sat down with our three artists in residence to talk. Not just about their projects, but about what grounds them, what moves them, and how they experience the world outside of their work. What emerged were precious reflections on memory, community, family, and the quiet act of witnessing one another.
"Outside of your work, how do you personally demonstrate proof of life?"
It's a question that sounds philosophical, but we asked it plainly. What do you do? How do you stay present? What keeps you tethered to the world when the work isn't happening?
The answers moved from the personal to the communal. From backyards with grass to abandoned underground pools. From the memory of a neighborhood to the feeling of watching strangers live.
YANNICK LOWERY
"Memory does a thing that not only increases the quality of a thing, but cements it in a way that becomes the standard. In that era, you couldn't explain it to somebody. You just had to be there. And the work that you do now is in response, or in remembrance, of that."
A self-described serial hobbyist, Yannick moves through the world with intention. Beneath the activity is a larger question about what gets carried forward, and what gets lost.
"We're all each other's witnesses. There's something in just seeing each other genuinely."
ANDRÉS CISNEROS
"Proof of life is staying rooted, in family, in history, in awareness."
Born in Caracas and shaped by years in West Philadelphia, Andres grounds his understanding of the world in the layered experience of navigating multiple cultures. He came to Philly, he says, because of The Roots, Jill Scott, D'Angelo, Erykah Badu.
"That's why I came to Philly."
He's still here.
TAJ RAUCH
"It's not always about proving that I'm alive, but watching the rest of the world and seeing them alive makes me feel good. I like to observe people being people."
Taj approaches the world as both participant and observer, equally at home in a packed dive bar and a record store, asking the person behind the counter what makes the place worth visiting.
"It's not the space that makes something meaningful. It's the people that inhabit it."
Read the full conversation
Next edition of our conversation: How the work is actually made (the process) and what changes when artists finally have the time and the space to create.
Proof of Life Artist Residency
Public Performance/Engagement Week | May 9 —17
View Full Schedule & Reserve your seats today!
Painted Bride Art Center
4029 Cambridge St, Philadelphia, PA 19104