Visiting the Magic Gardens in Philadelphia 🎨 🔔. . . . Inspired by his time serving in Peru in the Peace Corps, artist Isiah Zagar, began creating public art in empty lots of his neighborhood on Philly’s South Street. He collected thousands of tiles, glass bottles, tchotchkes, and other items found in landfills and dumps to turn trash into treasure. His work transformed and beautified the South Street neighborhood which still had segregation until 1952. Zagar and his wife, Julia, began the first mosaic fence on the property in the 1990s to protect the land as the neighborhood was rapidly developing with gentrification. Not only does this nonprofit art museum remind me of how beautiful the everyday things that are too often thrown away can be, but it is also an important acknowledgement that policies enacted for preservation and development must be representative of the people and neighborhoods they serve. It also showcases the beauty in diversity of cultures across countries and communities. . . . #magicgardens #trashtotreasure #isiahzagar #publicart #artmaters #recycledart #upcycledart #philadelphia #zerowaste #sustainability #plasticsucks #mosaic #enviromensch (at Philadelphia's Magic Gardens) https://www.instagram.com/p/B5_rph-DEJ8/?igshid=185b91fc2dvvm
