A Pocket Full of Memories | South Philadelphia Art Exhibition

There are moments when I look at my life and realize that art has been leading me back to myself the entire time. I didn’t begin creating because I was thinking about exhibitions, galleries, sales or building a business. I began creating because I needed somewhere to put what I was feeling. Art became a place for me to work through pain, memories, trauma, faith and the parts of myself I was still learning how to understand and love. Somewhere in that process, healing started turning into purpose.

I have always been a teacher. Before becoming a full time working artist, I taught writing literacy mixed with art in the Philadelphia School District. Today, I continue teaching African American art and history, working with children and adults and sharing what I have learned through my own journey. Teaching and creating have never felt separate to me because both give me the opportunity to use what God gave me to reach people in a way that feels natural to who I am.

My Childhood Memories Series came from that same place. I started thinking about the things that shaped me long before I ever called myself an artist. Sitting in the house watching VHS tapes, the foods we ate, the corner stores, school uniforms, family conversations, my grandparents, my parents and growing up in South Philadelphia. These were ordinary things that didn’t feel important when I was a child, but they mean something completely different to me now.

The more I painted those memories, the more I understood that I wasn’t just painting my childhood. I was leaning into it and honoring it. I was showing my inner child love and recognition for who she was, what she experienced and who she has evolved into. For me, there is deep healing in that. There is something powerful about being able to go back through a memory as an adult and see it with different eyes, then turn it into something that can live outside of me on a canvas.

My work has gone through an evolution too. I began with powerful abstract work and eventually found myself moving deeper into storytelling and figurative scenes through this series. Now I can feel those two worlds beginning to meet again, bringing the freedom and emotion of my abstract work together with the stories, history and intention that have become such an important part of my voice as an artist. That evolution is part of what I want people to experience when they walk into A Pocket Full of Memories.

This exhibition feels especially personal because the setting has its own connection to my life, my family and different seasons of my journey. There are memories there that stretch across years, and even though the space has evolved into something completely different today, that history is still meaningful to me. In a way, it feels like the past and present are meeting in the same place.

That connection makes it feel like the perfect setting for A Pocket Full of Memories. The paintings, the food, the conversations and the stories behind the work all come together in a way that feels intimate and true to what this series represents. It gives me the opportunity to share these memories in a space that has quietly been part of my own story too.

My mother will be preparing the food for the exhibition, bringing in the kinds of meals we grew up eating and adding another personal connection to the memories behind the work. Dinner is sponsored by my Father and his  Masonic brother’s from St. Alban 35 Lodge, whose support helped make that part of the experience possible, while Isgro Pastries, another piece of my South Philadelphia history, is sponsoring pastries for both exhibition dates. Together, those details make the experience feel even more connected to family, community and the memories that inspired this series.

A Pocket Full of Memories

An intimate exhibition featuring my Childhood Memories Series in South Philadelphia.

Thursday, October 8 | 5–8 PM

RSVP: https://luma.com/pczbhyxp

Saturday, October 10 | 1–4 PM

RSVP: https://luma.com/5zg0h7ex

Admission is complimentary. RSVP is required. The private South Philadelphia location will be shared with confirmed guests.

Andromeda Cook

Visual Artist • Educator • Storyteller

Resident Artist, October Gallery Museum

AndromedaCookStudio.com

@andromedacookstudio