In Conversation: Sandy Williams IV and Jamelle Bouie
Join artist Sandy Williams IV and Jamelle Bouie, writer and New York Times opinion columnist, for a conversation centered on Williams’ ongoing project the 40 ACRES Archive. Through work that includes archival research, text, video, performance, photographs, permanent historical markers, and the staging of events, the 40 ACRES Archive grapples with the failures of Reconstruction and the way those failures shape contemporary American life and politics, especially through persistent racial inequality. Work from the 40 ACRES Archive is currently on view at the Museum as part of Assembly 2022: Time & Attention.
About the participants
Based in Charlottesville, Virginia and Washington D.C., Jamelle Bouie is a columnist for the New York Times and political analyst for CBS News. He covers history and politics.
Prior to the Times, Jamelle was chief political correspondent for Slate magazine. And before that, he was a staff writer at The Daily Beast and held fellowships at The American Prospect and The Nation magazine. He attended the University of Virginia, where he graduated with a degree in political and social thought, and government.
Jamelle is also a photographer, documenting his surroundings using digital and analog tools. To see his photos, visit his blog or follow him on Instagram. He’s also on Twitter.
Sandy Williams IV is an artist and educator whose work problematizes the temporal legacy of public space and the infallibility of memory. Williams is an Assistant Professor of Art at the University of Richmond and a recipient of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts COVID Relief Fellowship and the New York Community Trust Van Lier Fellowship.
They have had solo shows at the Visual Arts Centre of Clarington (Ontario, CA), Reynolds Gallery (Richmond, VA), and Second Street Gallery (Charlottesville, VA). Selected group exhibitions and performances include the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art (Virginia Beach, VA), The Harnett Museum at the University of Richmond (Richmond, VA), the Institute of Contemporary Art at VCU (Richmond, VA), Socrates Sculpture Park (Queens, NY), New Release (New York, NY), De Boer Gallery (Los Angeles, CA), Springsteen (Baltimore, MD), SOMA (Mexico City, MX), ACRE (Chicago, IL), and the University of Cumbria (Carlisle, UK). Williams earned an MFA in Sculpture + Extended Media from Virginia Commonwealth University and a BA from the University of Virginia.
