Artists Courtney Bowles and Mark Strandquist were in residence in VCAM in late March and early April 2019, during which time they hosted a People’s Paper Co-op Pop-Up Exhibit and Conversation with Members of the People's Paper Co-op and Reentry Think Tank, along with a Friday Crosslisted Conversation and open lunch.
Tuesday, March 26: People’s Paper Co-op Pop-Up Exhibit + Conversation with Members of the People's Paper Co-op and Reentry Think Tank. Their pop-up exhibition dealt with the creative solutions these organizations deploy in transforming the stereotypes, social services, and platforms that impact our lives and communities.
Friday, April 12: Crosslisted Conversation with Mark Strandquist and Courtney Bowles. Artists Mark Strandquist and Courtney Bowles held an informal lunchtime conversation on using art as a vehicle to connect diverse communities and to amplify, celebrate, and power social justice movements.
About the Artists
Mark Strandquist and Courtney Bowles have spent years using art as a vehicle to connect diverse communities and to amplify, celebrate, and power social justice movements, in particular criminal justice and incarceration reform. Their media campaigns and immersive exhibitions have reached tens of thousands of people, and have helped advocates close prisons, pass laws, and train an entire police force (Richmond, VA).
They have received multiple awards, fellowships, national residencies, and have reached wide audiences through the New York Times, NPR, the Guardian, the Washington Post, PBS NewsHour, and VICE. Their work has been exhibited at Project Row Houses, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Art, and galleries across the country. Beyond traditional art spaces, their work has been seen and engaged with by tens of thousands of people through exhibits in legal clinics, parades, church basements, conferences, state legislatures, and city streets.
Mark Strandquist is the founder and creative director of the Performing Statistics project in Richmond, VA and they both co-direct the People’s Paper Co-op at the Village of Arts and Humanities, and founded and co-direct The Reentry Think Tank through fellowships from A Blade of Grass and Open Society foundations.
