In "Roots of Resilience," sixteen artists were selected from a call for applications to design flags that tell stories of hope, strength, and community, honoring the journeys of those who made Philly their home. From textiles to digital art, these powerful flags will fly at Spruce Street Harbor Park from May 22, 2026, to September 7, 2026.
About the Flag:
This flag centers on a scanned film photograph taken by Rivera’s mother in Puerto Rico. This photo was taken a few years after they decided to leave the island. By grounding the image in a personal family moment, the flag becomes a tribute to the histories, identities, and inherited stories carried by Puerto Ricans who have migrated to the US. Layered over the photograph is the text: “There will be Puerto Ricans in PR in the future.” This phrase reflects the displacement and layered emotions that come with migration. Today, more Puerto Ricans are living in the United States than on the island itself: a reality shaped by forced migration and colonialism. At the same time, the phrase carries both hope and assertion. It suggests that leaving is not the only path; staying or returning can also be choices. Even within the constraints of colonialism and displacement, there remains a sense of agency.
About the Artist:
Keysha Rivera is a technologist, speculative designer, and poetic researcher of afro-indigenous (Taâino) ancestry who practices in the South. Keysha’s fusion of digital images, ancestral memory, and textiles is a type of visual storytelling and counter-archiving. Her work, rooted in the connection between material and process, creates sculptures, designs, and installations that explore the conversation around the vulnerability of land, the bodily connection to nature, and the tenderness of remembrance. Keysha has an undergraduate degree in Biology and Design. She’s been a resident at Mass Moca, has been awarded a Craft Innovator Grant, and has participated in a show at the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft.
