We were right. The exhibition, scheduled to be on view for one month, turned into a project now in its 5th year. The outpouring of support was tremendous. 

Thanks to the help of Movita Johnson-Harrell we were able to meet with a core group of families who had lost loved ones. They, in turn, spread the word about the project. Over these past years we, the artists, have been enriched by getting to know these families and learning more about the struggles to face life with daily threats of gun violence in many communities in Philadelphia and the area. 

My own history with gun violence is not as intimate as many of our gracious and brave participants have experienced. When I was a teenager a dear, dear friend of my family spent a year at her son's bedside as he lingered after being shot in the head. I had played with him growing up but felt much closer to his mother. I don't remember why he was shot - it was either a drive by or other unfortunate event - but I do remember his mother aging about ten years that year as she sat by his side in a hospital. The heartbreak was nearly unbearable and the cause of it so, so petty and wasteful. 

Years later I got a call from my son who was in high school - there was a shooter in the school and he couldn't find his brother, my other son. My daughter, luckily, was home and rushed with me to the school. It was pandemonium. My older son came running to the car and then turned back yelling that he needed to find his brother. He ran back into the school! I will never understand why I let him do that. I was kind of frozen.  In the end, only one student was killed, the shooter, who took his own life, but no one was unscathed; no one was not traumatized that day.

As I hear daily about shootings, and get to know the families and friends of victims, I don't know if I would have the strength to go on. The effect of a close call on me was devastating - the thought of losing any of my children unbearable. And yet, this goes on daily across our country. It is shameful, disgusting, disrespectful of human life, and it needs to stop. 

I am an artist and not much of a "marcher" for causes. This project is something I can do to make a difference. Art is powerful and, in this case, it provides some solace to and respect for the people affected by the violence, and it causes people to rethink the systems in place in our society that have spawned this public health atrocity. 

Tracy katz | treasurer

Tracy Katz joined the Souls Shot Portrait Project board as the Treasurer in 2022 after volunteering as bookkeeper for a year and a half. Tracy holds a Batchelor’s degree in music and a Master’s degree in education, both from Virginia Commonwealth University. Tracy has worked for and consulted with non-profit organizations for over 20 years. She has completed certificates in Grant Writing for Profit and Nonprofit Entities at Community College of Philadelphia and in Nonprofit Management and Fundraising from The Nonprofit Center at LaSalle University. Tracy is in the process of becoming a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE). Tracy is the owner of TLK Consulting, LLC.

Jennifer coburn | Board member and Participating Artist

Jennifer Coburn works as the director of grants at Philadelphia-based JEVS Human Services. She studied painting at Cornell University and the University of Texas-San Antonio, as well as having studied Asian art and culture at Cornell and in Japan. Her work has been shown in exhibits in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, PA; Wilmington, DE; Knoxville, TN; and San Antonio, TX and is in private collections in California, Oregon, New York, and Pennsylvania. Normally a painter of non-figurative artwork, Jennifer happened to be visiting Florence and getting inspired by the powerful portrait paintings in its museums and churches when she read an email announcing the need for artists to participate in the Souls Shot Portrait Project. That year she contributed a painting of a 17-year old JEVS client who died from gun violence. In that portrait and in the 2nd one she painted in 2019, she thought it was important to express the victims' inner light to honor their memories and raise up their souls. Now, Jennifer contributes to the mission by participating on the board and occasionally helping with the grant submission process. By helping to touch peoples' hearts through the exhibitions, she believes that the Souls Shot Portrait Project can help inspire anti-gun violence activism and positive change.

lisa domenic | board member and participating artist

Lisa Domenic is a Temple University College of Allied Health graduate, former emergency room nurse and creative living in Philadelphia with her family. Lisa is a self taught artist and has a passion for giving shape and voice to seldom told stories.  Lisa began painting after a diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis and Narcolepsy. 

She considers nursing to be more than a job, it is a calling and living with disability has not diminished the call. Through art she is learning how to advocate for herself and others. She believes we are never too young, old or disabled to put others before ourselves and do our part to make a difference. 

In spite of challenges she is hopeful and optimistic. She has been a Team Captain with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society Walk MS since 2011 and volunteers with the Souls Shot Portrait Project to advocate the human cost of trauma and violence in our communities. She enjoys working in various mediums, painting in Plein Air and participating in local exhibitions in PA and NJ. 

Lisa has had artwork featured in programs and web galleries sponsored by The National Arts Program, Creative Philadelphia: Art in City Hall, The Cheltenham Center for Creative Arts, The Philadelphia Sketch Club and the Long Beach Island Foundation for the Arts, Center for Emerging Visual Artists and The Bucks County Arts and Culture, The Multiple Sclerosis Society of America, Penn Medicine Cherry Hill and Penn Medicine Radnor. 

robert fles | board member

Board Member and former board member of Heeding God's Call to End Gun Violence. Also currently am a Democratic Committeeperson in Montgomery County. A native of Michigan, Bob earned his BA from Calvin University  and his Ph. D. in English from Michigan State University. Bob’s career consisted primarily of teaching English first at Temple University and more extensively at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy. He continues to work as a member of Heeding God’s Call to End Gun Violence.

anna kocher | board member and Participating Artist

Anna Kocher is a painter, high school art teacher, and mother of three and is honored to serve on the board of the Souls Shot Portrait Project. As part of her Bachelor of Arts degree in studio art, Anna had the opportunity to study Renaissance art in Italy. She has since worked as an artist for commission, an illustrator, muralist, and art teacher, and has been honored to have her work included in many gallery exhibitions and private collections. 

When not painting, teaching, or parenting, Anna loves running, reading, and listening to the Queens of Jazz with a warm or cold beverage in hand and her dog and cat nearby to cuddle. 

After becoming a mother, Anna missed engaging in social issues as she had in college, when she participated in arts programming in prisons. When she stumbled on the call for artists for the first Souls Shot exhibition, she saw an opportunity to again use the unique power of art to work for social change. She has since become more involved and has been humbled and grateful to have been entrusted with the stories of beloved souls. 

jo ann miles miller | board member & corporate secretary

A corporate attorney by profession, Jo Ann is originally from Georgia and has lived and worked in Philadelphia for some 25 years.  She has been a devotee and supporter of the visual arts since early adulthood and has many close friends who are artists.  She was thrilled when asked to become a part of the Souls Shot board and to assist with its incorporation and governance.  She believes strongly in the mission of Souls Shot and in the power of art to heal individuals and communities.  She is a graduate of Stephens College and attended law school at Emory University and the University of Virginia.