Joseph Michael Essex, a 1970 graduate of Richmond Professional Institute (VCUâs precursor).Â
This method of capturing ideas or presenting images has a long history, similar to Morris columns covered in advertisements that can be seen in the plazas of European cities. In Holland, there is the âmuurkrant,â literally, âwall [of] news.â
âJohn and I have been involved with wheat pasting posters since our VCU days together,â Carter says. âWe were office mates, have like philosophies. Weâve always been advocates for posting up public messages. Theyâre immediate communication. And you are right, this is a mural city. We looked at this as an opportunity to expand that with more transformative language.â
Faye Prichard (Photo by Ash Daniel)
Faye Prichard got a piece of glass stuck in her eye as a toddler when her biological father, who soon split with her mother, dropped a glass in the middle of the night and didnât pick up the pieces off the floor.Â
She went blind in her left eye, and starting in about fifth grade, she says, a group of boys â she remembers them all by name â bullied her about her appearance.
âI was the funny-looking kid,â Prichard says. âI looked cross-eyed. Iâm not saying Iâm a beauty now, but I sure as hell wasnât a natural beauty as a child.âÂ
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Ashley Williams, founder of BareSOUL Yoga and Wellness in Shockoe Slip (Photo by Adam Ewing)
When Vicki Wise heard the news on Sept. 23 that the two police officers who shot and killed Breonna Taylor in her home in Louisville, Kentucky, would not face criminal charges, she was angry. After a summer steeped in racial tension, it felt like yet another reminder that the lives of Black people â and especially Black women like her â arenât valued in this country. Â
She wanted to do something to honor Taylor, so she put on a Black Lives Matter T-shirt, grabbed her yoga mat and joined dozens of other Richmonders for community yoga at the 17th Street Market in Shockoe Bottom. Now a public square laced with colorful string lights and lined with restaurants, the 17th Street Market was once at the center of the busiest slave trading post north of New Orleans.