Women's History Month at the PMA
Celebrating women’s stories from the past. Empowering our present and future.
Wish I Was as Sweet (detail), 2025, by Qiaira Riley © Qiaira Riley
Women have forever been the engines of artistic expression, courageously finding new means to be creative. This year for Women’s History Month, we’re highlighting the myriad of ways women have been agents for change. With highlights from our collection, our special exhibitions on view, and our programming throughout March, our goal is to celebrate the longevity and diversity of female representation found in our museum and beyond. See below for more information about Women’s History Month 2025 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Photo by Tonal Simmons
Featured Artist
Qiaira Riley is an interdisciplinary artist and cultural worker raised on Chicago’s South Side and based in Philadelphia. Her creative practice includes painting, ceramics, video, and alternative photography and transfer processes. Riley’s work explores and is inspired by Black vernacular interiors and food-ways, collective memory, her grandmother’s house, the internet, and reality television. She is also host of Something You Can Feel, a Black art history podcast celebrating the lives, work, and impact of underrecognized figures and movements in Black contemporary art.
Artist Statement
Wish I Was as Sweet is a cyanotype quilt depicting the artist’s great-grandmother, surrounded by sweet treats along with the text “my great grandma would make me the sweetest sweet potato pie, wish I was as sweet.” Some of the treats reference the secret candy drawer of the artist’s great grandmother, while others are popular Chicago snacks.
