More Than Likes is a series about social media personalities who are trying to do positive things for their communities.
Conrad Benner’s phone camera was fixed on Nile Livingston, an artist who stood in front of a blank wall. Mx. Livingston would soon paint a massive mural, and the “canvas” would be the side of an apartment building overlooking a parking lot in the Gayborhood area of Philadelphia. But Mx. Livingston was having a hard time finding the right words for a promotional TikTok.
“We can do a thousand takes,” Mr. Benner said, warmth in his voice. He had chosen both the location and the artist.
Mr. Benner, 38, runs Streets Dept, a photo blog and social media presence dedicated to spotlighting street artists. In addition to interviewing artists on video and photographing their work, Mr. Benner selects artists for Mural Arts Philadelphia, which says it is the nation’s largest public art program. In a city known for the richness of both its cultural institutions and its public art scene, Mr. Benner wants to “serve the artists in all ways.”
“He’s a bridge in the public art community,” Mx. Livingston said. “He stops and slows down and observes the things around him, and he really cares about the city of Philadelphia.”
Before meeting up with Mx. Livingston, Mr. Benner’s camera was locked on another artist, Alexei Mansour, whom Mr. Brenner had selected to paint a mural in real time as part of a street festival. It was almost 90 degrees, and huge speakers drowned out Mr. Mansour, a self-described “mumbler” not keen on public speaking. There were people everywhere and Mr. Mansour, too, struggled, his face turning bright red. (“I blacked out,” Mr. Mansour said later of the moment.)
Mr. Benner took control: He instructed Mr. Mansour to wave his hands in front of his face to cool himself down. He switched locations, first trying to record Mr. Mansour in an adjacent building (also too loud) before settling on a corner away from the commotion.
“One, two, three,” Mr. Benner said patiently, and Mr. Mansour began to describe his work.
Mr. Mansour, whose work focuses on queer identity, and his team worked on a mural of the Greek god Dionysus, whom some consider an early nonbinary figure.
Mr. Benner, who grew up in the Fishtown neighborhood and typically wears a flat-brimmed cap and a mustache, eschews attention when documenting art, directing people’s eyes toward the artists he supports.
“My interest was always at pointing the…
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