Does life after art school send you down the well? Students install work by MFA Amany Metawe. (Photo courtesy of PAFA.)

Melissa Joseph, soon to graduate from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), wanted to combine her art practice with an undeniable statement on gun violence in Philadelphia. Her work will be on display alongside her fellow PAFA emerging artists’ pieces at the historic art school’s 117th Annual Student Exhibition (ASE), running May 11 through June 3.

PAFA calls the ASE “one of the most highly anticipated student group shows in the country,” which launched the careers of top contemporary artists like Njideka Akunyili Crosby, whose work is now in the collections of institutions like the Tate Modern, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, and many others. Fellow PAFA alum Sarah McEneaney’s paintings reside in the collections at PAFA, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Rhode Island School of Design, and more. A community activist as well as an artist, she lives and works in Callowhill.

The ASE, notable among student shows for its location in a major art museum, attracts thousands of visitors every year, including artists, collectors, curators, gallery owners, and the general public. Attendees can simply take in the work or purchase their favorite pieces from artists who are beginning to define promising careers.



Joseph, who will receive her MFA on May 11, has worked in stone carving and painting, but her ASE contribution comes in a different medium: T-shirts.

Joseph’s sister-in-law is a trauma surgeon at Temple University Hospital and, as Joseph tells PAFA’s blog, “the number one thing she cuts off of gunshot victims are white shirts.” The artist began to research local gun-violence statistics and learned that Philly has reported an average of 320 shooting deaths annually over the last few years—a number that is dropping compared to past violence, but still a tragic figure.

She visited gun ranges to collect targets and shell casings, then screen-printed 320 shirts with bullet holes. Her project also included a community aspect in which she invited students and local residents into the studio to hand-wash the screen-printed shirts, as an opportunity for personal dialogue around gun violence—including the knowledge she collected along the way that many shooting survivors feel as if society blames them for their wounds. All of the screen-printed shirts will be on display at the exhibition. (You can check out photos of the community shirt-washing days here.)

This year’s ASE includes about 1,000 works in various media by more than 100 current and graduating students at the bachelor’s, certificate, post-baccalaureate, and master’s level.

PAFA’s 2018 Annual Student Exhibition runs May 11 through June 3 at the Galleries of the Samuel M.V. Hamilton Building (128 N. Broad Street, Philadelphia). Catch the opening reception on Friday, May 11, from 5pm to 8pm.

Above: ASE works by PAFA student Zeyu Li. (Image courtesy of PAFA.)