Filmmaker Anula Shetty will be SEPTA’s artist in residence

SEPTA riders may begin noticing new artwork on their commutes, thanks to a new program that partners local artists with the Philadelphia government. A collaboration between Forman Arts Initiative and Mural Arts, Public Works grants artists $40,000 to participate in a one-year residency working with city agencies.

For its inaugural year, filmmaker Anula Shetty will create artworks that reflect the relationship between Philadelphians and SEPTA. Shetty has an office in SEPTA headquarters and has begun researching potential locations and projects.

“We’re really excited about bringing art into the public realm and making art available in a way that is surprising,” said Forman Arts Initiative cofounder Jennifer Rice. “We really liked Anula for this project [because] she’s been working in Philadelphia [and has been] deeply connected very specifically with neighborhoods and communities for a long time.”

Shetty received her masters in film and media arts at Temple and has spent the last decade creating community-oriented multimedia work in Chinatown North, Fairhill, and Norris Square. Shetty has used films, apps, and virtual and augmented reality technology in her previous work.

The goal is for Shetty to forge new connections with local communities. The first project will be unveiled in June.

What that looks like is up to her. “We want to give the artists that creative license … we’re not being too prescriptive about it,” said FAI cofounder Michael Forman.

As a first-generation South Asian immigrant, Shetty said public transit is part of the immigrant experience. “You always feel you are in this state of being in transit … between two worlds,” said Shetty. “There’s that constant sense of motion.”

Shetty understands the frustrations that SEPTA can evoke.

“It is my hope that, [by] creating avenues and opportunities for people to share stories … [we can] address some of these reasons, why people might not want to travel on SEPTA,” she said.

Though her residency has just begun, Shetty is thinking of a project where bus drivers and other transit workers talk about their first rides and their journeys to (or within) Philadelphia. Another idea she’s developing focuses on commuters’ daydreams.

Public arts efforts create work that is “both practical and poetic,” said Jane Golden, executive director of Mural Arts, who has overseen previous collaborations between artists and agencies. “It’s a chance to really get close to what the city is doing to understand a variety of issues. [Artists] bring their talent to the forefront to help uncover some mystery, to think — what is the problem that’s trying to be solved here?”