“From Invisible to Invincible” opens at Historic Strawberry Mansion September 18 with a VIP reception, running through November 9. The exhibition marks the centennial of The Committee of 1926, the group that has stewarded the mansion for a century, and lands squarely within Philadelphia’s own Semiquincentennial year. Public hours run Thursday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., for the duration of the show.

Why “From Invisible to Invincible” Exists

The show is a direct response to a documented gap in the mansion’s own founding history. The Committee of 1926 formed in the wake of Philadelphia’s 1926 Sesquicentennial International Exposition, an event that Committee President Constance Ragsdale says “paid lip service to diversity but did not allocate resources fairly or treat marginalized groups, including Black, Jewish and Catholic Philadelphians, with dignity.”

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to help right that wrong 100 years later,” Ragsdale said, tying the exhibition to both the Committee’s own centennial and the nation’s 250th anniversary.

Clockwise from top left: Barbara Bullock, Henry Bermudez, Tim McFarlane, Richard Watson

The Artists Behind “From Invisible to Invincible”

Twelve Philadelphia artists are featured: Henry Bermudez, Barbara Bullock, Syd Carpenter, Martina Johnson-Allen, Tim McFarlane, Tom McKinney, Pedro Ospina, Ron Rumford, Sherry Shine, Steven CW Taylor, Yolanda Ward, and Richard Watson, several of whom created new pieces specifically for the show. Carpenter’s sculptural work, held in the permanent collections of the Met and the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery, and Bermudez’s mythology-driven visual language are among the standouts on view.

Barbara Bullock brings a 50-year career built on the mythology and culture of the African diaspora, work that’s evolved from figural to abstract and includes commissions for Philadelphia International Airport.

Steven CW Taylor’s path is a different kind of story entirely: a software engineer for a decade before he founded Germantown’s Ubuntu Fine Art Gallery in 2021, he was later named Visual Journalist of the Year by the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists, applying the same precision to photography and exhibition design that once went into production infrastructure.

Left to right: Ron Rumford, Martina Johnson-Allen

Bringing together this many working Philadelphia artists under one roof, rather than a single solo show, gives the exhibition a genuine cross-section of the city’s current artistic voice rather than one perspective standing in for many.

Curator Maryl Hitchings, also a Committee of 1926 member, described what it means for these artists to show work inside the mansion specifically. “There was a time when they would not have felt welcome in this house,” Hitchings said. “Now they are not only here but they are also bringing their work into it, and several have created new pieces specifically for this exhibition.”

“From Invisible to Invincible” Features an Artist Talk Series

Saturdays at the Mansion runs weekly artist conversations at 2 p.m. throughout the exhibition, starting September 26 with Steven CW Taylor on photography and continuing through group discussions with Carpenter, McFarlane, and McKinney on October 17, before closing weekend programming on November 7.

Later sessions bring in Ospina, Bermudez, Rumford, Bullock, Shine, Ward, Watson, and Johnson-Allen across the following weeks, giving nearly every artist in the show a direct chance to speak about the work in person.

Left to right: Sherry Shine, Pedro Ospina, Tom McKinney

Historic Strawberry Mansion, built in 1789 and later expanded in the 1820s, is the largest of the historic houses inside Fairmount Park, restored and opened to the public in 1931 by the same Committee now marking its hundredth year. It’s one of dozens of sites across the city carrying real historical weight, though not always the kind of attention this exhibition is now bringing to it.

Public hours and ticket information run through Historic Strawberry Mansion‘s own listings. A century after a celebration that overlooked the people now filling its walls with new work, the mansion isn’t just preserving that history anymore. It’s actively rewriting who gets to be part of it.

Images: C. Nancy Evans

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Allan Lane

Philadelphia born and bred, Allan Lane is the Publisher and Editor in Chief of digital magazines. He launched his first publication, SportBikes Inc Magazine in 2010, followed by dosage MAGAZINE in 2019. Recently, Allan launched his third online publication, Club For Man. As a journalist, Allan covers fashion, lifestyle, culture, art, and motorcycles.

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