Andrea Walls

Andrea “Philly” Walls is a multidisciplinary artist, writer, and archivist dedicated to illuminating Black life through joy, beauty, and resistance. Inspired by the Harlem Renaissance and Black Arts Movement, her work resists trauma-centered narratives, instead curating vibrant, everyday moments that honor Black resilience. She is the founder and creative director of the Museum of Black Joy, a digital archive born in response to the oversaturation of Black death in media—an urgent offering to rebalance collective memory.

Walls’ practice spans photography, poetry, collage, and community storytelling. Her work has been supported by the Leeway Foundation, Black Public Media, The Studio Museum of Harlem, and Drexel University’s Writers Room, where she is an Artist in Residence. A Philadelphia Cultural Treasure, Walls’ projects—including The D’Archive and The Black Body Curve—reclaim space and history while amplifying ancestral knowledge. For Walls, joy is more than emotion; it’s a practice, a resistance, and a birthright.

Listen to Andrea in conversation, here on Soundcloud.