Episode 47 features Sherrill Roland. A performance artist who spent 10 months in prison for a crime that he did not commit.

Sherrill Roland is an interdisciplinary artist who creates art that challenges ideas around controversial social and political constructs, and generates a safe space to process, question, and share. He was born in Asheville, NC, and received an MFA in Studio Art from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Inspired by his experience in prison for a crime he did not commit, he founded The Jumpsuit Project to raise awareness around issues related to mass incarceration. Roland’s socially-engaged art project has been presented at Open Engagement Chicago, Oakland City Hall, and the Michigan School of Law. He was awarded the Center for Documentary Studies Post-MFA Fellowship in the Documentary Arts at Duke University in Durham, NC, and the Rights of Return USA Fellowship. After completing the Fountainhead Residency in Miami, Florida, Roland returned to North Carolina as an artist-in-residence at the McColl Center of Art + Innovation.

Sherrill was the winner of the South Arts 2020 State Fellowship Award and was a 2021 Creative Capital Awards recipient. Please see links here for additional information. Enjoy.

https://www.sherrillroland.com/

https://www.jumpsuitproject.com/

https://www.southarts.org/grant-fellowship-recipients/sherrill-roland

https://creative-capital.org/2020/12/08/the-2021-creative-capital-awards/

https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674919228

http://www.numberinc.org/return-and-revisit-a-conversation-with-sherrill-roland/

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/entertainment/arts-culture/article235666932.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherrill_Roland
https://qcitymetro.com/2019/09/06/sherrill-roland-sheds-light-on-mass-incarceration-through-art-residency/

Jumpsuit Project, Washington, DC 2019
Photo credit Christian Carter-Ross
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