Philadelphia Photo Arts Center, a Knight Arts grantee based in the heart of Philly’s South Kensington neighborhood, has spent the last year working to strengthen its ties to the residents of the surrounding community through the Philly Block Project. This Knight-funded endeavor finds curator Kalia Brooks and conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas helping to facilitate storytelling and the documentation of contemporary life in this section of North Philadelphia. Although the photos currently on display at Photo Arts Center are Thomas’s floor-to-ceiling prints of row houses sprinkled with interiors and shots of neighborhood details, Philly Block Project is overwhelmingly invested in the idea that a place’s residents are its most authentic narrators.

Stretching from Girard Avenue to Berks Street, and from Front Street to 6th, South Kensington is a heavily residential neighborhood bordered closely by locales like Fishtown and Northern Liberties, which garner significantly more name recognition. In order to amplify the voices of its neighbors, the Photo Arts Center began the Philly Block Project by reaching out to community members directly. This initial segment of the project, entitled “Archive Collective: South Kensington 19122,” was led by photographer and visual storyteller Lori Waselchuk, artist and educator Tim Gibbon, and photographer Andre Bradley. The group made ‘house calls’ to local homes and hosted photo-scanning sessions at shared spaces like Al-Aqsa Islamic Society and John Moffet School.

From these amassed photos, the Photo Arts Center embarked on its summertime exhibit of local history shown by the people who–in many cases–have lived it. Family photos accompanied by tales of joy and grief, images of an industrial and manufacturing area rapidly transforming before the new millennium: these are just some of the stories revisited by residents, along with some help by historian Alysson Biermaier, who added to the show by sourcing archival images and information from libraries and city records, among other sources.

It would be impossible to tell a community’s story through history books and public records alone,” says Brooks. “Through ‘Archive Collective: South Kensington 19122,’ the Philly Block Project doesn’t just ‘document’ important events and changes in South Kensington, but really takes a deeper look at how residents felt and how their lives were impacted.”

While the exhibit itself wrapped up in August, that doesn’t mark the end of these unique visual narratives. In fact, the center plans to let the community itself decide where things go from here by way of monthly meetings where participants help piece together a vision for the future of the Philly Block Project’s archive. Through this permanent collection of images, South Kensington will move forward with a steady foundation of its rich history for future generations.

Currently at the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center gallery, however, visitors may catch a glimpse of the present courtesy of Willis Thomas. Upon entering the Crane Arts Building from the American Street entrance and heading towards the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center, it is as if one is stepping right back onto the street. The wide hallway is decked out with massive photos of the houses, cars, sidewalks and residents that, just outside the door, make South Kensington what it is today. As this photographic, interior street stretches down towards the Photo Arts Center, the illusion is broken as the vanishing point opens into two double doors.

Inside, there are more of these tall, skinny prints of nearby houses, but also many smaller pictures depicting more subtle details of life in South Kensington. There is a window with a Father’s Day banner, a variety of graffiti tags, pictures of homeowners and their pets, action shots of kids playing in the street, beware of dog and no smoking signs, weight benches, and much more. The giant images of houses do well to set the scene and depict the surrounding area as it appears right now, but the real power seems to lie in the smaller snippets of life.

The expressions of weariness or unmistakable pride in one’s home and neighborhood are demonstrations of both the toughness and the hospitality of South Kensington’s denizens. Images from their homes show how they live: their habits, their beliefs, their possessions, the many ways they spend their time and the settings in which they spend it. Through the efforts of local residents and working artists participating in the Philly Block Project, the past and the present of this small sliver of Philadelphia have come to the forefront of everyone’s attention. Needless to say, future generations will have a much easier time getting in touch with their history thanks to the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center.