From A to Z: Ben Eine turns Philly into his second HOME, Philadelphia 2015
Philadelphia became the only city outside of London to host a complete alphabet by the celebrated London street artist Ben Eine. In collaboration with Mural Arts Philadelphia’s Southeast by Southeast initiative, Eine, assisted by Ryan Robles, embarked upon a mammoth intervention across the city, transforming thirty-seven storefront shutters into typographic icons.
Eine’s fascination with typography is foundational to his practice. From graffiti to his stencil signature style, bold, colourful, and graphic finds new homes in Philadelphia. Each shutter, previously boring corrugated steel, was reimagined as a bright letterform, part of a broader collection that unfolded across the city’s neighbourhoods. By night, when shopfronts were drawn closed, the works revealed themselves in full, a secret alphabet across the city, turning ordinary streets into a gallery without walls.
Situated at the Mural Arts’ Southeast by Southeast storefront at 8th Street and Snyder Avenue, the project radiated outward into the city. Murals appeared in unexpected places from Broad Street and Allegheny Avenue to Frankford Avenue and South 9th Street each site adding a letter to the unfolding urban narrative. In total, thirty-seven shutters were commissioned but Eine was non-stop and created more and more!
Murals were located at these (approximate) locations:
-Broad Street and Allegheny Avenue
-1519 Frankford Avenue
-1529 & 1531 Front Street
-676 N Broad Street
-608 S 4th Street
-823 Washington Avenue
-7th Street, between Cantrell and Porter Streets
-1102 S 9th Street
-1000 Frankford Avenue (rear of building)
With A to Z Philly being at the mercy to the rhythms of daily shops opening the project possesses a temporary shift, where the alphabet itself becomes art, and art becomes part of the city’s pulse.
Ben Eine making Philly his second HOME to A-Z. Image credit Mural Arts Philadelphia
A to Z celebrates Philadelphia’s identity as the “Mural Capital of the World”.
