Phil America

Phil America
Born	March 1983 California, United States
Nationality	American
Occupation	Photographer, writer and visual artist
Website
Official website

Phil America (born March 1983 in California)^[1] is an American artist, writer, keynote speaker and photographer best known for his work focused on social justice issues, class, gender and race.

He currently helps run Dear Burma^[2] school for Burmese migrant workers living in Bangkok, Thailand, where he was a volunteer photography teacher while working on numerous art projects in the region. In 2014 Phil worked directly with the United Nations and other agencies on an art project in Thailand^[3] and is a founding member of YOU Generation^[4] and Food Oasis Now.^[5]

His latest book, Our Side Of The Tracks,^[6] was published in 2012 by Alias Press.^[7] In addition to his color photography work, he has written for numerous American, Asian and European magazines. He also has shown in museums and galleries around the world and has been featured in a number of newspapers in different countries.^[8]

He has since moved to Sacramento, USA where he gave a TED (conference) talk on the topic of art as a language for social change,^[9] spoke at numerous universities and events in California and is working with all 28 of the city's museums on temporary installations. He also gave his second TED Talk in January 2015, speaking about life as a migrant himself and the issues migrants face around the world.^[10]

Early life

Phil America was born in Northern California and raised between California and New York City. After completing his college studies and receiving a B.A in Psychology and minor in Philosophy, and after spending his youth traveling throughout the United States, he moved to Europe, living in Bern and Zurich in Switzerland and later in Milan, Italy and Copenhagen, Denmark. In 2011 he moved to Bangkok, Thailand and has since returned home to work in California.

Career

America developed a passion for graffiti at an early age. Phil dedicates himself to the more mainstream art of photography and writing while using other mediums of art such as sculpture and video installations. In addition to his most recent book, Our Side Of The Tracks he also published the book, Ultimate Graffsportz 2 with Alias Press, a book that covers the international trainwriting culture around the world. Both books were published Belgium.

In 2014 he helped organized and took part in Freedumb, the first art show to be shown on all continents within 3 days.^[11] He also worked with the International Labor Organization, United Nations Action for Cooperation Against Trafficking Persons, World Vision International, United States Department of Labor, International Organization for Migration, Australian Agency for International Development, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Australia) and Public Delivery on a solo show in Bangkok's largest museum, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre.^[12]

In 2013 he was featured in a special in Incognito Magazine from Sweden.^[13][14] His photography was featured on the cover of numerous European magazines.^[15][16]

After living and working in Copenhagen, Milano, and Zurich for three years, he relocated to Thailand where he was a volunteer photography teacher at Dear Burma school^[17] while working on projects in Asia. Since then he has moved back to California to work on new projects back in his home country of America.

Books

• Ultimate Graffsportz 2 (2011, Alias Press, ISBN 978-92-81710-10-7)^[18]
• Our Side Of The Tracks (2012, Alias Press, ISBN 978-92-81710-11-4)^[19]
• The Early Hours Photo Project #1 (2015, The Early Hours Press, ISBN 978-0-9961659-0-7)^[20]

Selected exhibitions

• Photo 10, Maag Halle, Zürich, Switzerland, 2011^[21]

• Silence Was Golden, Dongdaemun Design Plaza,Seoul, South Korea, 2015

• White Ambition, Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, Los Angeles, USA, 2015

• Silence Was Golden, Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei, Taipei, Taiwan, 2015

• Villa In The Slums, Bangkok University Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand, 2013^[22]

• A View To Kill, Tower Art Gallery, Newcastle, United Kingdom, 2012^[23]

• Above The Law, Montana Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal, 2013^[24]

• The Nefarious Face of Chinatown, Vess, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2013^[25]

• Utopian Days, Total Museum of Contemporary Art,^[26] Seoul, South Korea

• Art Gallery of Izmir University, Izmir, Turkey, 2013^[27]

• Museum of Modern Art - Cullman Research Center, New York City, New York, United States of America, 2013^[28]

• White Ambition,^[29] Nowon Culture and Arts Center, Seoul, Korea

• Journey Of Voices,^[30] Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, Bangkok, Thailand, 2014^[31]

• Greek Film Archive Film Museum, Athens, Greece^[32]

• Museum of Almería, Almería, Spain

Selected projects

• Failure Of The American Dream (Performance and sculptural project with Public Delivery focused on Phil living in America's largest tent city.)^[33]

• White Ambition (Performance and sculptural project with Public Delivery looking into how categories such as class, gender and ethnicity amplify each other.)^[28]

• Above The Law (An ongoing series of photo works documenting train and metro graffiti artists around the world.)^[34]

• Slum Vacation (Performance project and resulting sculptural, video and audio installation focusing on slum housing.)^[34][35]

• Journey Of Voices (Video and sculptural project with the United Nations, ILO, IOM and other agencies with the focus on migrant workers' rights in Thailand.)^[36]

References

External links

• Phil America's website
• Phil America's blog