During the summer of 2015, 14 individuals from neighborhoods across Philadelphia traveled to G-Town Radio in Germantown to take part in the creation of #Racism is a Sickness, a community-engaged art project by photographer Tieshka K. Smith that explored race, memory and identity through portraits and dialogue.

This installation shows the distance — and, in some cases, the surprising proximity — between the participants’ home neighborhoods and G-Town Radio. A map created by Smith shows a selection of nearby sites of Black presence, history and resistance. Together, they reveal a dynamic geography shaped by generations of Black Philadelphians whose everyday lives, institutions, organizing and resistance have left an enduring imprint on the city.

According to Smith, #10YearsofRacismIsASickness—the reboot of the original project—is coming to G-Town Radio in the form of the window installation ("All Roads Lead Back to G-Town Radio") and archival materials from the original project that will go on display in the Green Room. It will on exhibit from Aug. 1 to Nov. 30 with an opening reception Aug. 8, 6 to 9 p.m., at G-Town Radio, 24 Maplewood Mall.

Smith moved to Philadelphia in 2011 from Jersey City and settled in Germantown. “My move to Philadelphia came at a time when I was rethinking the direction of my life,” Smith told the Local last week.

“During that period, my partner encouraged me to consider pursuing a more creative path. I bought the camera I still use today and began photographing in Jersey City (where I was living previously) and New York. After one of those early photographs received an award, I took it as encouragement to continue developing my practice.

“Philadelphia — and Germantown in particular — felt like the right place to build that new chapter. Over the years, Germantown became central to my work through projects like the Philadelphia Juneteenth Festival, where I’ve served as the official photographer since 2015 and, now, my #10YearsofRacismIsASickness residency at G-Town Radio.”

According to Jill Saull, of G-Town Radio, “Anchoring the residency is a window installation titled ‘All Roads Lead Back to G-Town Radio.’ A three-paneled map traces the journeys the original participants made from their home neighborhoods to G-Town Radio to co-create the project, while highlighting sites of Black presence and resistance within those communities. Visitors will encounter the geographic origins of the work through the lives and neighborhoods of the people who made it possible.”

G-Town Radio is a community radio station that broadcasts 24 hours a day and can be heard on 92.9 FM from noon on Wednesdays to midnight on Sundays and streaming on the internet every day of the week. The programs tell stories, play music and communicate information of interest to residents of Northwest Philadelphia.

Racism is a Sickness is comprised of portraits of Philadelphians of all walks of life that tell stories about their earliest and most painful race-based experiences and speak to the aspects of race they struggle with the most. The portraits were shot in Germantown over a six-week period. An upside-down American flag served as the backdrop for all of the portraits. The project also is composed of a mixed media component of community residents’ responses when asked how they saw racism affecting themselves individually and America as a whole.

Smith told us she wants to kickstart a new kind of movement to heal racism. “My subjects spoke boldly and candidly about their experiences with race in their families, in schools, with law enforcement, at work, in their faith communities and on social media, and it’s time to move decisively to help people where they are,” she said. “I want hundreds, if not thousands, of people in Philadelphia and beyond to be inspired by this project and to feel emboldened to take action, no matter how small or big, in their own communities.”

Smith’s work has been exhibited nationally and has received generous support from commissions and grants. In addition to her artistic practice, Smith teaches, consults, writes and collaborates with cultural organizations and community partners, extending her research through public dialogue and civic engagement. She is the co-author of the chapter “Community Healing Through Intentional Listening” in Restorative Practices in Education Through the Arts (Davis Publications, 2025).

Smith holds a Master of Project Management from Keller Graduate School of Management, part of DeVry University, and a BA in English Literature from Northwestern University.

For more information, visit tieshkasmith.com or 10yearsofracismisasickness.com. Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com.