Philly-Based Artist Unveils Philly’s Magic Gardens Exhibition Exploring Social Change and Environmentalism

-Courtesy of En Route Marketing
photo from Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens

Now through September 15th, the internationally renowned immersive art environment Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens (PMG) (1020-22 South Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147) presents a new exhibition curated by Exhibitions Manager Chelsey Luster, titled After the Flowers Pass: Works by Amir Khadar. Featuring otherworldly textile and mixed media creations by Sierra Leonean American multidisciplinary artist, designer, and educator Amir Khadar (they/them) the collection of work centers on social change movements and liberatory agendas around decolonization.  

The mixed media works featured in After the Flowers Pass incorporate various weaving, dyeing, and  beading techniques, allowing Khadar to build vibrant compositions combining human figures and their environments into one cohesive entity. They employ a sewing technique called Appliqué, in which fabric patches are layered on a foundation and then sewn in place by hand or machine with decorative stitching. Khadar also utilizes Digital Weaving to convert their drawings, mixed media sketches, and paintings into digital files suitable for weaving into textiles. Their process includes digital design software and automated looms to produce woven textiles directly from digital designs.  

The textiles are also decorated through several methods and techniques. In one piece, Khadar adorns the subjects with glass beads and sequins to act as ornamentations, as well as the skin of animals and stars in the sky. The artist dyes and paints their designs into pale-colored fabric to create rich colors using the Batik dyeing method, which involves covering patterned areas with wax to prevent the fabric from absorbing the color.  

In After the Flowers Pass, Khadar constructs a post-apocalyptic world that reimagines hierarchies and rebuilds relationships between people and the environment. The exhibition places figures, communities, and spirits in a time after the fall of consumerism, where harmony with nature and ancestral knowledge takes precedence over technology, social hierarchies, and wealth. Khadar connects these remnants with what’s left of the previous world and rebuilds a new existence that undoes the harms of colonialism to create a new world. This gives Black and Indigenous communities the agency to center their new society around healing, balance, and reintegration with nature. 

Khadar reimagines the relationship between African and Indigenous communities and their environment  in a post-colonial world through depictions of spiritual rituals, caretaking of land, and animism (the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence). Historically, Western civilizations intentionally demonized these practices, labeling them evil, unsophisticated, and naïve. The works in After The Flowers Pass depict people undoing centuries of ethnic cleansing and cultural genocide establishing a new relationship with their environments. They celebrate their newfound freedom through ritual, adornment, relaxation, and acts of togetherness, becoming one with nature.  

Amir Khadar is a Sierra Leonean-American multidisciplinary artist, designer, and educator from  Minneapolis, Minnesota. Currently based in Philadelphia, their work centers on decolonization by  bridging the gap between fantasy and reality. Their artwork is intentionally positioned in social  movement spaces, where it is central in creating a visual language for liberation initiatives and agendas  around racial, gender, and climate justice. They have nurtured their passion for social change initiatives  by collaborating with justice organizations such as Thousand Currents, Initiative Sankofa d’Afrique de  l’Ouest, and Forward Together. 

Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens is open year-round Wednesday to Monday, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.  General admission the gardens range from $8 to $15, with discounts available to select groups. Access to exhibitions displayed in PMG’s galleries is free with admission. Learn more at  http://www.phillymagicgardens.org.