The Village Oracle is an innovative, ongoing community arts project that will launch during the construction phases of the gallery. The Village Oracle follows upon months of research — working hand-in-hand with Fairhill-Hartranft neighborhood community members, local and national experts, and The Village staff — culminating in a project designed to represent and build upon the learnings, narratives, challenges, and aspirations of the neighborhood’s past, present, and future.
These stories are being told through the lenses of our team of creative artists, each working within their own mediums, but with collective common themes of mythmaking, worldbuilding, and Oracle weaving their works together. Our artists come from varied artistic traditions and worlds, including graffiti, collage, audio/beat-making, painting, graphic design, and fine art photography, to name just a few.
The Village Oracle will include a deck of Oracle cards (depicting symbols and archetypes based on the Fairhill-Hartranft neighborhood), a large-scale outdoor visual and sound installation (in place at The Village during construction), and will culminate with a gallery exhibit in the soon-to-be-built Futures Gallery.
The thirteen visual artists on this project were each matched with a symbolic Archetype to interpret through their own creative lens. One graphic artist will design the symbols and border, which will carry as a constant element through the series of cards. And three sound artists will produce auditory works based on the concept of the Village Oracle and reflect their interpretation of The Village community.”