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HomeAuthorsMegan Beal Russell

Articles by Megan Beal Russell

Art and Culture

New Exhibit on Benjamin Franklin Parkway Honors Philadelphia’s History of Protest

November 16, 2025Megan Beal Russell

Nicolo Gentile’s new public work Bar None is an ode to protests that have taken place on Benjamin Franklin Parkway throughout history.  The public art installation features a series of archival images of some of

Neighborhoods

Artist José Ortiz-Pagán on Indigenous Spiritual Practices and Art in a Time of Political Upheaval

November 7, 2025Megan Beal Russell

José Ortiz-Pagán is a Puerto Rican visual artist based in Philadelphia. His work focuses on harnessing indigenous spiritual practices through murals, installations, performances and spiritual rituals to create community-engaged art. Ortiz-Pagán spoke to Philadelphia Neighborhoods

Recent Posts

  • People stand on a sidewalk beneath a pale gray sky. The street behind them is between two tan stone buildings with floor-to-ceiling glass windows on their ground levels, and the multicolored glass exterior of a parking garage shines further down the street, next to some taller red brick buildings. Glass windows are visible behind the people on the sidewalk. Some of them wear raincoats or windbreakers, and some of them hold umbrellas of various colors. Two men in the right half of the image, one southeast Asian and one white, wear clerical collars. They are all waving wooden rods with thick red ribbons tied to the ends of them in the air. Most of the people present appear to be white and/or over the age of 50. One bearded, middle-aged man in a gray and black windbreaker and black pants points a camera towards the bottom right corner of the image, where a blue banner reads “GOD STANDS WITH THE OPPRESSED.” To the banner’s left, a canvas with a monarch butterfly painted on it is draped over a concrete sidewalk barrier. A blue bicycle is parked behind the man with the camera, and a black car in the street drives past the group of people.
    ‘These are our people’: Weekly vigils unite faiths on ICE’s doorstep
    July 7, 2026
  • “To Be Here” weaves a web of Philadelphia experiences, told by and for the community
    July 3, 2026
  • The crowd during a performance by The DOJD, Claire Brown's band, in a West Philadelphia basement. (Image-Jacob Magaldi)
    How Philadelphia’s DIY music scene is helping fund gender-affirming care
    June 7, 2026
  • Video Style Guide: Pictures-Video-Photography
    May 27, 2026
  • Inspired by ACT UP, this queer Philly collective is throwing mutual aid parties 
    May 4, 2026
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