At Its Root
In a celebration of the vast diversity of cultures that embody this country, particularly the city of Philadelphia, At Its Root explores the works of three local artists who examine the meaning of origin, ideas of home, and the construction of identity, honoring the people and history that make the city.
Philadelphia has had a remarkable history of migration since its origins. This exhibition delves into the multiplicity and richness of its people and art, fostering a sense of unity. Colette Fu, Duwanevue Sante Johnson, and Dejeonge Reese exemplify what it means to hold cultural identity with pride.
At Its Root, is part of Radical Americana a citywide initiative organized by The Clay Studio that unites Philadelphia’s leading arts and cultural institutions through a series of exhibitions showcasing research-driven work by contemporary artists. These exhibitions celebrate the city’s historic role in shaping America’s cultural identity, civic life, and creative spirit, while inviting reflection and dialogue about the nation’s present and future.
Colette Fu
I am a Philadelphia-based artist and received my MFA in Fine Art Photography from the Rochester Institute of Technology in 2003. Soon after graduating, I began creating complex compositions incorporating my photography with pop-up paper engineering. My pop-up books are housed in esteemed institutions such as the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Library of Congress, the Getty Research Institute, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and many private and rare archive collections. In 2014, I attended a 6-month artist residency at the Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai, where I began to extend my We Are Tiger Dragon project, an extensive visual pop-up exploration of China's ethnic minorities. While there, I was invited to design my first large pop-up book, which measured 2.5 x 5 x 1.7 meters. Three years later, this inspired me to create the world's largest pop-up book, Tao Hua Yuan Ji, Source of the Peach Blossoms, at the TILT Institute for the Contemporary Image in Philadelphia. The book measured 13.8 x 21 feet open, and visitors were invited to enter inside to fully immerse themselves in the experience. Since then, I have continued to create pop-up books as small as 4 inches, to room-sized installations that the community can interact with, inspired by the pop-up book format.
I've been creating pop-up books full and over time for over 20 years now. My books have received numerous awards, including a 2024 Philadelphia Cultural Treasures Grant, a 2023 Forman Arts Initiative Artworks Grant, a 2020 Joan Mitchell Painter's & Sculptors Grant, and the 2018 Meggendorfer Prize for best paper-engineered artist book. In 2008, I received a Fulbright Research Fellowship to China, which jump-started my commitment to the pop-up book format. I have also received grants from various foundations and organizations such as the Independence Foundation, the Leeway Foundation, En Foco, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Puffin Foundation, and the Society for Photographic Education. I have created most of my work at artist residencies, including those at the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, Swatch Art Peace Hotel, Yaddo, MacDowell, Sacatar, the Vermont Studio Center, the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Visual Studies Workshop, the Millay Colony, and the Alden B. Dow Center for Creativity. The title of my 2017 solo exhibition at the National Museum of Women in the Arts summarizes my life: "Wonderer, Wanderer, the Pop-up Books of Colette Fu." I thrive by attending visiting artist residencies where I can share experiences with new people at new places. I've also had solo exhibitions at the Asian Arts Initiative, the Taubman Museum, the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Athenaeum, the Philips Museum, and many university art galleries. As a devoted educator, I teach pop-up book structures to amplify community voices through pop-up paper-engineered projects. I also lead pop-up courses and community workshops internationally.
Duwanevue Sante Johnson
Duwenavue Sante Johnson, a contemporary artist, is deeply connected to her diverse ancestry, which spans over 400 years and encompasses both the northern and southern regions of the United States. She grapples with complexities like manifest destiny and migratory freedoms while channeling her energy into creating a better world through her art and engaging with the paths that have shaped us all. Her artistic journey is driven by an unwavering search for empathy, diversity, and community values, which she brings to life through her positive art practices. Johnson is an accomplished hand embroiderer, recognized as a national treasure, and contemporary artist who refuses to limit herself in any one medium. Being influenced by world travels, she draws from colors, environmental patterns, and textures while focusing on incorporating many styles of painting and textile work from formal education guidance and cultural influence. As a teacher and needle arts professional, she maintains precision and the details found in the art of Heraldry. Her passion in this field of study is to share the value of craftsmanship and hand embroidery as wellness.She sees hand embroidery as an action of resistance,embodying accessibility and timelessness, transcending boundaries of class, race, age, and gender. Each stitch serves as a meditative act, a bridge between the past and present, and a vehicle for shared learning and empowerment. The themes of movement, cultural identity, and cultural stewardship are at the core of her practice. Painting and printmaking are also natural expressions of how the world is reflected in the past, present, and future. Her painting focuses on a dialogue using watercolor, gouache mediums, and handmade stencils for texture and color depth on silk fabric and paper. A primary objective in all of her practices is to maintain an eco-component that leads to a slow art movement and for the stewardship of space. As a three time cancer survivor, never knowing her last breath, she maintains a belief that legacy and passing down knowledge is a must for the marginalized, especially in spaces surviving trauma, erasure, food disparity, and education limitations and environmental pollution. The act of living is resistance. Her art career started with an apprenticeship in Bangkok alongside artists for the Royal Thai national painter, Chakrabhand Posayakrit, focusing on traditional mural arts at Wat Tridhosthep Worawihan transitioning to textile arts in Shantiniketan, India, and New Delhi. She has a BA in Communication Arts from SNHU, gained a Certificate/Diploma from the Royal School of Needlework, UK, and a Diploma from Ecole Lesage, Certificate from Atelier Zardosi, Zardosi, Paris, France. Lastly, a Certificate and residency under Master Hang San Soo, Important Intangible Cultural Property, Seoul, South Korea. Her art has been exhibited, A.I.R gallery and 201@205 gallery NYC, Tiger Strikes Asteroid,Ubuntu Gallery, Mural Arts,Abington Art Center, and Delaware River Waterworks in Philadelphia. Some of her international exhibitions include Highgate Literary and Scientific Institute, London, U.K, CICA Museum South Korea, LaNao gallery, CDMX, Mexico, Schau Fenster and The National Museum Berlin, Germany, La Chapelle de Sainte Lucie Marsanne, France in 2023-2024. Johnsons greatest successes in the last two years are joining A.I.R as a national member, hand embroidery acquired by the Victoria Albert Museum In London, England, and being selected to be historically archived in the Smithsonian for her labor as a Presidential embroiderer starting in 2026.
DeJeonge Reese
DeJeonge Reese (she/her) is a visual artist, educator, and art advocate from Yeadon, Pennsylvania. She received her Bachelor's degree in Visual Arts from The Lincoln University of Pennsylvania and her master's in studio art from Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia, PA. With a background in ceramics; DeJeonge used her time at Moore to explore other mediums such as installation, mixed media, and performance art.
She uses her art and creativity to stimulate new and ongoing conversations on the various facets of identity, lineage, roots, and ancestry within the black community; highlighting these intersections through her passion for experimenting with a variety of mediums and materials; primarily through hair.
