Waterfront Arts Flag Exhibition
The Delaware River Waterfront Corporation (DRWC) is excited to announce that it will continue its flag exhibitions at Spruce Street Harbor Park on the Delaware River Waterfront.
For the third consecutive year, sixteen (16) selected artists will have large pennant flags printed and produced by the DRWC Waterfront Arts Program. These flags will be hung as part of an outdoor exhibition in Spruce Street Harbor Park for the 2026 Spring and Summer seasons. DRWC will cover all production costs; each recipient will receive a $300 honorarium.
The 2026 DRWC Flag Exhibition Application
The Waterfront Arts Program debuted its first site-specific flag exhibition, Commemorations, at Spruce Street Harbor Park in May 2024. Inspired by Ree Morton’s iconic 1975 installation, Something in the Wind, the show featured 16 artist-designed pennant flags celebrating people, places, and ideas worth remembering.
In Summer 2025, the second flag exhibition, States of Change, explored the ever-shifting energy of city life—capturing both subtle and powerful transformations through bold, dynamic flag designs. Each selected artist interpreted the theme in their own way, showcasing how art could reflect the spirit, resilience, and beauty of a constantly changing urban world.
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Duwenavue Santé Johnson
This flag focuses on the interconnected history of the region and on the importance of textile manufacturing and creativity in the Philadelphia area.
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Mark Gibson
This flag honors the personal lens on American culture stemming from the artists' multifaceted viewpoint as a black male, a professor, and an American history buff.
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Madeleine Herisson-Leplae
This flag to honors the tree. Particularly a spruce tree in honor of the Spruce Street Harbor Park. This image pays homage to the mundane beauty of a tree at night.
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Keo Luu
This flag is inspired by the world around the artist and her love of family, friends and the community she lives in.
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Kati Gegenheimer
This flag honors the four seasons as they have existed in Philadelphia and the greater northeast - fall, winter, spring, and summer - identified through simple shapes and specific colors.
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Katharine Suchan
This flag honors the artists' friend Paige, a poet and artist whom she met during undergrad. Paige is a source of light in Suchan's life, sharing similar views.
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Jordan Buschur
This flag commemorates the women who came before the artist. And takes inspiration from a handmade quilt gifted to her by her grandmother.
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James Heimer
This flag celebrates the Wissahickon Valley. The park is significant to the artist as a place of escape.
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Gordon Stillman
This flag depicts a cyanotype of a horseshoe crab with the words “450 million more years” written to the right of the crab to draw attention to a keystone species of the Delaware River Watershed.
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Caitlin McCormack
This flag celebrates humanity’s interconnectedness with the planet’s vast variety of botanical, mycological, and rhizospheric systems.
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Brice Peterson
This flag honors two eternal figures in a queer pantheon of camp iconography (Shelley Winters and Debbie Reynolds) and symbolizes the artists' own fascination with and devotion to the gay icons of his youth.
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Austin Eddy
This flag is a commemoration of time and its fleeting nature. By using the image of a bird in flight he is aiming to capture the stillness of movement and its momentariness.
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Amy Boone-McCreesh
This flag is a tribute to city living and the significance of access to basic necessities and beauty.
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Alicia Link
This flag celebrates the blurriness of borders, Helis the beluga whale's big swim, freaks, and a fond memory of Link's mother, Małgorzata Link.
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Alex Ebstein
This flag commemorates and honors the various forms, physical or mental, of the vacation count-down calendar.
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Addison Namnoum
This flag is a commemoration of the Delaware/Lenapewihittuck.
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Yutian Liu 刘雨田
Blending bold shapes, painterly marks, and the imprint of a city fence, this abstract flag transforms everyday urban textures into a vibrant reflection of Philly’s ever-changing cityscape.
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Sarah Leuchtner
Inspired by the textures of city life, this flag transforms spray-painted impressions of a chain link fence into an abstract cityscape—capturing the grit, rhythm, and constant change of Philly’s urban environment.
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Rachel Hsu
Inspired by the stars above Philly on a night of deep change, Between Prayer and Mercy reimagines the constellations as symbols of sorrow, hope, and resilience—guiding us toward a more compassionate future.
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Parker Phelps
Capturing the quiet tension between nature and the city, this evocative flag—featuring a fallen tree—reflects Philly’s rhythm of loss, renewal, and the enduring resilience that defines urban life.
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Nicolo Gentile
Honoring Philly’s radical Queer history, this powerful pennant overlays archival images onto steel window guards—reclaiming forgotten spaces and stories with pride, resilience, and a bold call to remember.
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Natessa Amin
Celebrate the ever-evolving spirit of the city with Nothing Stays Still—a bold flag design pulsing with movement, resilience, and the unstoppable energy of urban life.
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Molly Burt Westvig
Inspired by a chance discovery of a Langston Hughes poem on a fortune cookie wrapper, this heartfelt tribute celebrates the hope, dreams, and quiet resilience that soar through the ever-changing rhythms of city life.
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Macy West
With vibrant loops of purple and green, this dynamic pennant dances in the wind—symbolizing the graceful resilience of Philly’s communities as they grow, adapt, and move forward together.
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Keith Micheal Murphy
Weaving past and present, this flag layers traditional textile patterns to reflect how evolving craft and technology shape community, identity, and the fabric of urban life.
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Kamonchanok Phon-ngam
With a blooming magnolia, a historic ship, and the flowing Delaware River, Blossoming Resilience beautifully captures Philly’s spirit—rooted in history, shaped by change, and powered by strength, diversity, and renewal.
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Dave Greber
Bursting with iconic Philly colors and bold motion, this vibrant flag captures the city’s energy and evolution—blending art, sports, and academia into a dynamic symbol of constant change.
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Bruno Cançado
With a striking image of a river stone suspended in midair, Stone-flag playfully challenges perception—blending weight and motion to reflect the ever-shifting yet enduring soul of the city.
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Anthony Campuzano
Drawing from a nearby parking sign and a love for wit and design, this playful flag invites you not just to park—but to truly be here, soaking in the vibrant spirit of the waterfront.
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Amie Cunat
Inspired by historical Japanese fireworks catalogs and bursting with color, this bold flag explores how we see—and truly see—each other, sparking a vibrant dialogue on perception, connection, and change.
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Alana Walters
Celebrating self-expression and identity, this powerful flag honors the ever-evolving journey of our hair—how it affects the way we view and feel about ourselves.
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Abbey Muza
Inspired by the distinct light and shadows of Philly streets, Poplar, Judson transforms a neighborhood moment into a striking flag—honoring the quiet beauty and history woven into the city’s everyday glow.
"Commenorations" featured artists: Amy Boone-McCreesh, Jordan Buschur, Alex Ebstein, Austin Eddy, Kati Gegenheimer, Mark Gibson, James Heimer, Madeleine Herisson-Leplae, Duwenavue Santé Johnson, Alicia Link, Caitlin McCormack, Addison Namnoum, Brice Peterson, Gordon Stillman, Katharine Suchan, Keo Luu.
"States of Change" featured artists: Natessa Amin, Molly Burt Westvig, Anthony, Campuzano, Bruno Cançado, Amie Cunat, Nicolo Gentile, Dave Greber, Rachel Hsu, Sarah Leuchtner, Yutian Liu 刘雨田, Keith Micheal Murphy, Abbey Muza, Parker Phelps, Kamonchanok Phon-ngam, Alana Walters