Twelve Gates Arts

Twelve Gates Arts Twelve Gates Arts, established in 2011, is a non-profit organization based in Philadelphia, Pennsylv

We’re trying something new this season. Starting the week of June 22, the gallery will be open on Wednesdays from 12 - 6...
06/20/2026

We’re trying something new this season.

Starting the week of June 22, the gallery will be open on Wednesdays from 12 - 6 PM, alongside our usual Thursday through Saturday hours.

A lot of our community works the standard 9 to 5, and we wanted to make it easier to stop by before a show closes. Right now especially, with A Traveler Weeps, A River Laughs on view through July 24, we didn’t want a weekday schedule to be the reason someone missed it.

This is a pilot, so consider it an open invitation: come see us on a Wednesday, and let us know how it feels.

If you’re free this week, we’d love to see you at 106 N. 2nd St.

The first article documenting our new exhibition is out now!Space on Space Magazine’s Emily Elizabeth Logan wrote beauti...
06/19/2026

The first article documenting our new exhibition is out now!

Space on Space Magazine’s Emily Elizabeth Logan wrote beautifully about A Traveler Weeps, A River Laughs, calling it an immersive, multidisciplinary storytelling experience. Four artists connected to Philadelphia, Shehrezad Maher, sāgar kāmath, Alexei Mansour, and Mir Masud-Elias, carry different stories of lineage, identity, and migration, all using color to move you through the gallery space.

The show is part of the ArtPhilly What Now: 2026 Festival and runs now through July 24.

Full article linked in our bio.

With Tarot at 12G, we introduce another way of knowing into a show about how we have laughed and how we have lost. Tarot...
06/17/2026

With Tarot at 12G, we introduce another way of knowing into a show about how we have laughed and how we have lost. Tarot has long traveled with those on the margins, carried through diasporas and passed between communities as a practice of holding uncertainty and meaning-making outside dominant structures. With the engaged guidance of Greeshma and Franki of RavenFox, we offer it here as a moment to reflect on what might be waiting for us, as travelers, as a collective.

Meet RavenFox: Raven (Greeshma) and Fox (Franki) come from different worlds, Eastern and Western, Yin and Yang, Shadow and Light, and have been reading tarot together for years. Their differences, and their ability to hold space for them, help them see what either one alone might miss. Combined with a subconscious-centric storytelling approach, they offer a community take on a deeply intimate act.

Upcoming session: Thursday, June 25, 11AM–5PM. Sessions are 15 minutes, free to attend, and open to all. Tips are warmly encouraged.

Link in bio to book your slot.

Introducing one of the artists in A Traveler Weeps, A River Laughs - writer, poet, and lawyer Mehrin (Mir) Masud-Elias, ...
06/03/2026

Introducing one of the artists in A Traveler Weeps, A River Laughs - writer, poet, and lawyer Mehrin (Mir) Masud-Elias, originally from Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Mir’s work challenges essentialist narratives of South Asian Muslim immigrant life, exploring embodiment, temporality, and ethical attention through radical ecopoetics. A recipient of the 2021 William Carlos Williams/Peregrine Prize and the 2022 Universe in Verse Prize, her poems and essays have appeared in journals and collected editions.

A former curator of the 12G Poetic Circle, she will present a site-specific installation drawn from her manuscript In/Finite Body, performed alongside musician .

We’re so excited to welcome Mir back to the gallery - join us for the opening this Friday, June 5, from 5:30 to 8 PM at 106 N 2nd St, Philadelphia.

Introducing one of the artists in A Traveler Weeps, A River Laughs - filmmaker Shehrezad Maher, born and raised in Karac...
06/03/2026

Introducing one of the artists in A Traveler Weeps, A River Laughs - filmmaker Shehrezad Maher, born and raised in Karachi, Pakistan.

Shehrezad’s work has screened at the Venice Film Festival, Visions du Réel, the San Francisco International Film Festival, and beyond. A 2023 Pew Artist Fellow, her feature script Theory of Colors was selected for the 2025 Sundance Screenwriters Intensive and awarded the Melissa Mathison Screenwriters Fund. She holds an MFA from Yale University, where she received the Blair Dickinson Memorial Prize.

We’re thrilled to have her work as part of this exhibition. Come experience it in person at Twelve Gates Arts - opening this Friday, June 5, from 5:30 to 8 PM at 106 N 2nd St, Philadelphia. The opening reception also features a live performance by Mir Masud-Elias with doozyah.

Introducing one of the artists in A Traveler Weeps, A River Laughs - interdisciplinary artist, storyteller, and dancer s...
06/02/2026

Introducing one of the artists in A Traveler Weeps, A River Laughs - interdisciplinary artist, storyteller, and dancer sāgar kāmath.

Working across painting, sculpture, installation, video, collage, public art, and dance, sāgar investigates the multiplicities of his identity as an Indian-born American through narrative building, materiality, and movement - interrogating his body, the surrounding landscape, and colonial histories through non-linear time, humor, and pop culture.

A 2023 Smithsonian Artist-in-Residence and 2024 Twelve Gates Philadelphia Resident, he was recently commissioned by Mural Arts and the Free Library of Philadelphia to design banners for the Parkway Central Branch facade, on view through December 2026.

We can’t wait for you to experience his work in the gallery. Join us this Friday, June 5, from 5:30 to 8 PM at 106 N 2nd St, Philadelphia - the opening reception also features a live performance by Mir Masud-Elias with doozyah.

Introducing one of the artists in A Traveler Weeps, A River Laughs - Philadelphia-based painter, photographer, and multi...
06/02/2026

Introducing one of the artists in A Traveler Weeps, A River Laughs - Philadelphia-based painter, photographer, and multimedia artist Alexei Mansour.

A Tyler School of Art alum, Alexei’s practice examines identity, memory, and displacement through a diasporic lens. Drawing from his Eastern cultural and religious upbringing, he creates intimate, psychologically charged environments where personal memory meets collective history.

We’re thrilled to have his work as part of this exhibition. Come see it in person at Twelve Gates Arts - opening this Friday, June 5, from 5:30 to 8 PM at 106 N 2nd St, Philadelphia. The opening reception also features a live performance by Mir Masud-Elias with doozyah.

The Poets’ Studio is excited to kick off Season 2 with Philadelphia’s Poet Laureate Raina J. León! Join us on June 9th, ...
05/31/2026

The Poets’ Studio is excited to kick off Season 2 with Philadelphia’s Poet Laureate Raina J. León!

Join us on June 9th, 2026, from 7:00pm-8:30pm Twelve Gates Arts (106 N 2nd St) for a reading and generative writing workshop led by Raina.

Curated by Sanam Sheriff, The Poets’ Studio is a monthly gathering for local poets and writers interested in writing, sharing, and connection through poetry.

This event is free and open to all who want to engage more deeply with lyric and the written word.

Like to RSVP is in our bio!

One night only. sāgar kāmath presents Myths and Dreams of Red & Blue at the Gordon Gallery, UPenn. Kathak dance, paintin...
05/28/2026

One night only.

sāgar kāmath presents Myths and Dreams of Red & Blue at the Gordon Gallery, UPenn. Kathak dance, painting, video, and sound come together in a performance exploring diasporic identity, nostalgia, and the American Dream.

Friday, June 12 | Doors 7 PM | Show 8 PM @ Gordon Gallery, 205 S 34th St, Philadelphia

Presented in partnership with ’s What Now: 2026 festival and the UPenn Weitzman School of Design.

The gallery is closed until June 5 while we install our new show. Join us for the opening of A Traveler Weeps, a River L...
05/22/2026

The gallery is closed until June 5 while we install our new show.

Join us for the opening of A Traveler Weeps, a River Laughs on Friday, June 5 at 6:30PM at 106 N 2nd St.

Address

106 N 2nd Street
Philadelphia, PA
19106

Opening Hours

Wednesday 11am - 5pm
Thursday 11am - 5pm
Friday 11am - 5pm
Saturday 11am - 5pm

Telephone

+12152538578

Website

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