Scenes of 2025’s kick-off show on March 28, 2025. Works featured include David K. Coleman, who spent some of his childhood in Germantown. (Photo: Rasheed Z. Ajamu)

Please note that while not in the text, some hyperlinks of works mentioned (i.e., “Tan Lines”) lead to nude depictions.

Germantown Art & Sound makes its first 2026 appearance this Friday, March 27, from 7–10 p.m. The interactive community art show continues its seven-year streak in the neighborhood.

As always, the show happens at Our House Culture Center, sitting at the neighborhood border at Germantown Ave. & Johnson St. Co-producing the night, per usual, are Vanessa Chandler, Courtney Childs (OH owner), and Julian Moore-Griffin.

The event is BYOB, but offers some complimentary wine while it lasts. There’s also a food truck on-site, so those who get hungry don’t go hungry. DJ Heat___wav, also local to Germantown, will be present to spin tunes and keep the vibes riding high for the night. 

This first show of the year brings together six artists from Philly and beyond: Amon Amir, Dreadydee, el rizL, Kam DeLa, Lindsay Kovnat, and Sean ‘SK’ Kinsey. Each uses their own distinct art style to convey their stories and connect with audiences.

As there’s never usually any particular theme to the showcase, the connections are in the details, not necessarily by design.

Ahead of this Friday’s show, GIH spoke with two of the artists — both non-Philadelphians, both 30-something, and both Black men using Blackness in their creations to challenge the status quo of art.

Amon Amir

31-year-old artist Amon Amir has been creating art since his childhood in Baltimore, where he still resides. He explores various mediums, whether graphic design or painting, saying he’s always wanted to “try different things.”

“I used to watch cartoons, but I would always have a piece of paper and try to draw the cartoons as I’m watching it,” he told GIH. “As I got older, I just wanted to get better.”

Amir seeks to push himself out of his comfort zone through his artistic expression, which resides on his canvas of choice, including his personal fashion choices.

Amir draws inspiration from everyday people around him. His work captures deep stories of individuality, often displaying folks in candid, everyday moments through vibrant color usage. The portrayal of each subject as their own “moment in time” is intentional. Take his piece, “Tan Lines,” as an example. Blue serves as the backdrop, providing a certain emotion.

And while the depiction gives “carefree,” Amir points out her body language. “She’s looking off to the side, so it makes you wonder what she’s thinking about. What’s on her mind?” he explained.

And to enact more imagination and “sense of nostalgia,” he blends cartoon-ish elements, like birds and stars.

“There’s a word called ‘sonder,” the young artist said, explaining his artistic attachment to peoplehood. “[It’s] the realization that every person you pass by is living a life just as vivid and complex as your own.”

And as a Black man, those references particularly draw on those who are also Black. These intimate portrayals also double as cultural criticism and a response to the ways Amir sees his experiences at different museums.

“I love the work that I see… but I feel for, for obvious reasons, it’s not too many Black people in these paintings,” he explained.

And even then, the variety of Black people becomes important for Amir, as someone who sees stereotypes portrayed against Black people beyond just art.

A 2023 Nielsen study found that on television, Black people were most likely to be represented in Sports, Music, Sitcoms, Game shows, and Law & Crime genres. This limiting variety can be traced back to racist origins. 

“A lot of Black movies are like hood movies, which is fine. But there’s more aspects to us than that… there’s so many different types of Black people, and I just want to showcase all of them.”

But on the contrary, he also feels every Black portrayal doesn’t need to look grandiose or “super polished” to be accepted. His art puts him in between and yet nowhere that a binary world would allow.

In his imagining, Black babies have blonde hair and wings, Black boys fly, and Black men are human — all myths and impossibilities to somebody, somewhere. But, through each of Amir’s pieces, Whitney Houston’s “It’s Possible” once again serves as the underlying thesis statement of Black Millennial creation.

“Blackness doesn’t look one specific way,” Amir reminds readers. “I want everybody to look at the work and feel unapologetically you.”

To describe his work in three words, and how it dispels myths, he gives “vibrant,” “mysterious,” and “resilient.”

When asked about Amir’s inclusion in Friday’s showing, the team emailed the following:  “We’re thrilled to host Amon Amir all the way from Baltimore. Introducing artists from other cities to the Germantown community is always super exciting and gives the artist an opportunity to expand their audience in a really genuine way. We loved the level of detail and bright colors he uses in his portraits, and can’t wait to see them on the walls at Our House!”

For this upcoming show, original paintings will be available and priced between $600 and several thousand dollars. Prints are also available starting at $35.

Kam DeLa

In 2015, musician and artist Kam DeLa mistakenly found himself a new career path in graphic design. After the illustrator for his music group abruptly left, he stepped in to fill the gap created and began producing the cover art himself.

“Then I kind of fell in love with the process that came out of necessity,” he said.

And the rest was history. Now 32 years old, DeLa’s work carried him far over the past 10–11 years, allowing him to grow his portfolio, working with and designing works for big names and entities like Afropunk, Netflix, The Roots, Burna Boy, Isaiah Rashad, and hip-hop and rap princess, Doechii.

The young artist embraces a fluid, eclectic creative process in his work, driven by resonance over rigidity. He describes his process as “productively overwhelming” because when you believe in your ability to do anything, you can do anything.

But a no limit mindset means you gotta be ‘Bout It,’ meaning you gotta do whatever it takes to succeed.

The artist sees everything as “water” that “ripples together.”

And sometimes those things don’t have to be the same — they can be “good or bad” at the same time, according to him. He seeks to adapt and mold organically rather than forcing one specific style or direction.

Drawing from big inspirations, like the 2000s rock phenomenon Gorillaz, early anime references like Dragon Ball Z, and video games like Soulcalibur, DeLa emphasizes the “power of creation” in his work. 

“[Incorporating] things that wouldn’t exist really in real life, but being able to understand we have the power to see it and make something look like this [and] bring our wildest dreams to life… that’s the foundation,” he told GIH.

He added, “And I think it’s important that we, you know, stay in contact with our inner child.”

DeLa says this kind of creativity has important implications for those who see it — especially those who look like him… and those who don’t.

“As a Black man, it’s my responsibility to put Black faces in the forefront,” he explains.

“And also, as a Black man, I feel like it’s my responsibility to also uplift women and that stuff. That is like the face of almost all of my art. Almost all the characters are always Black women, [with] darker skin tones, and keeping that in the forefront at almost all times.”

As he imagines his subjects through both anime-ish and sci-fi-ish lenses and inspirations, his portrayal of Black figures helps confront the racial biases towards and exclusions & perceptions of Black people in video games and anime.

And particularly for Black women and femmes, who are more likely to face those harms in both spaces.

Similarly to fellow Art & Sound artist, Amon Amir, being able to walk through a museum or art hall and have Black people see Black faces where one would traditionally see Mona Lisa and the like is vital.

And it’s “no shade,” he says, but rather “true empowerment.” DeLa uplifts the quiet pipelines from media and art disrepresentation to real-world suppressions of self-identity, like having to cut locs and straightening hair.

To DeLa, a Black kid seeing themselves as a Super Saiyan at 10-years-old is just as, if not more, important as one seeing themselves as the nation’s president.

When asked about DeLa’s addition to the Art & Sound showcase, the team emailed the following: “Kam DeLa is a true multi-hyphenate and creative genius who creates both music and graphic design at a high level. We were drawn to the vibrant colors and characters in Kam’s digital art, which is often inspired by sci-fi and anime. He’s previously worked with large brands and productions, so we’re especially excited to welcome him into the community-centered Germantown Art & Sound experience.”

On Friday, he will debut a new art series of prints of different sizes and stickers. 

While no one is turned away, there’s a suggested donation of $10. Tickets can be purchased ahead of time, but cash, Cash App, Venmo, and cards are accepted at the door.

Rasheed Z. Ajamu is Germantown Info Hub‘s engagement reporter. Their work blends service journalism with a place-based lens, tracking how local policy, development, arts + culture, and neighborhood institutions shape neighbors’ everyday lives. They’re also invested in community archiving and public media projects that help neighbors preserve and share Germantown stories.