‘Stone Soup’: New works by Eustace Mamba pop up at Magic Gardens

Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens has its own appeal, but the multi-dimensional experience space also rotates different art exhibits in its indoor galleries.

Beginning March 28, the latest to hit the venue comes from multidisciplinary artist Eustace Mamba. Titled ‘Stone Soup: Works by Eustace Mamba’, the collection highlights Mamba’s innovative use of materials and concepts while delving into the complexities of identity, culture, and history.

Mamba has roots to the area as well—the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts grad received a Bachelor and Master of Fine Arts at the Philadelphia institution. Locals may have also caught the artist’s work at local sites like the Woodmere Art Museum, the Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American Art, and PAFA.

As a release describes, Mamba’s work often merges visual elements that contrast historical figures and events from Black history with imagery of contemporary Black life, particularly as it unfolds in East Coast cities like Philadelphia and New York (where Mamba was born.) The exhibit will feature works from different mediums including painting, collage, street photography, and mixed-media installations, with an emphasis on sewing as a storytelling tool.

This technique “allows Mamba to transform materials into vibrant, layered compositions that reflect both personal and collective struggles, as well as moments of harmony.”

A few stand outs from ‘Stone Soup’ include ‘The Tailor’ (centered on a figure toiling away at their sewing machine), ‘Night Owl’ (which shows a figure on a street corner looking off in the distance while the local SEPTA bus passes by) and ‘Little Yellow Bando’ (with multicolored row houses and cityscapes of the city shown.)

Several works demonstrate the artist’s rich portrait work, including ‘Heatwave,’ ‘Paradise – Incomplete,’ and ‘Wild Eyes’, plus, the exhibition also features paintings of various tableaus centered around urban environments like ‘Little Yellow House’ and ‘Dreams of Flight.’

Together, the works featured in Stone Soup construct narratives that blend observation with invention, portraying both personal and collective experience, the release also notes. The exhibition is ultimately meant to “spark critical conversations about the cultural richness and resilience of Black communities, while expanding the role of contemporary art in driving social change.”

‘Stone Soup’ will be onsite at the cultural venue alongside the space’s central pull—the immersive mixed media art environment is completely covered with intricate mosaics made from handmade tiles, bottles, bicycle wheels, mirrors, and international folk art.

Magic Gardens has been open to the public since 2008 and folks from around the country, and the world, have flocked to the space to admire its artist, Isaiah Zagar’s masterpieces.

Zagar came to the City of Brotherly Love in the late 1960s and began what would be called the “South Street Renaissance”, and with it, Zagar and his wife helped kickstart the revitalization of the area by reinvigorating dilapidated buildings and adding colorful mosaics on both private and public walls.

Years later, Zagar continued to showcase his work in vacant lots on South Street near his studio. In 2004 the owner of the lots Zagar was working on decided to sell the land and ultimately dismantle the work. Instead of allowing his work to be destroyed Zagar and the community helped save the works of art, and the preserved area became Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens.

Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens (1020 South Street) is open year-round Wednesday to Monday, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. General admission to the gardens ranges from $8 to $15, with discounts available for select groups. Access to exhibitions displayed in PMG’s galleries is free with admission, including for ‘Stone Soup.’