Under the Manchester Bridge, what had been an idea for years turned into something tangible, at least for a day. Hundreds of people moved through the space as muralists painted, DJs played, and passersby stopped mid-bike ride or walk to figure out what was going on....
Walking into this exhibit, it’s hard not to think about the moment it’s opening into. Immigration isn’t some abstract issue right now. It’s at the center of national conversation again, shaping policy, headlines, and how people talk about who belongs and who doesn’t. It’s one of those topics that gets reduced quickly, turned into something...
Every year around this time, Richmond slips a little. It starts small and you catch it out of the corner of your eye. Someone in armor pumping gas. A Jedi standing at the crosswalk on Broad, waiting for the light like everyone else. A guy in full wizard robes standing in line at 7-Eleven like this is all perfectly normal behavior. What used to...
The ceilings were all collapsing. The moldering roof was seeping through to the drywall and paint inside. What was once a small emerald speck of mold above the shower had turned into a fuzzy kaleidoscope of blacks and pinks and grays and greens that coated the entire top of the room and filled it with a smell so pungent that I couldn’t spend...
I am prone to hyperbole. While my enthusiasm for local theatre runs hot, believe me when I tell you Primary Trust is the best production I have ever seen in Richmond. I mean that. It’s perfect. On every level. In every performance. Pacing, set design, lighting, sound design, hell – even the costuming was impeccable. Every single aspect...
A mural in Richmond’s Northside has sparked a complex debate about public art, race, and neighborhood change, with artists, community leaders, and residents weighing in on how public art intersects with neighborhood history. The mural, painted by artist Lauren YS, depicts a woman holding a slice of watermelon with seeds spelling out “Free...
Recently I sat down with Richmond-based artist Cameron Wilson Ritcher at his studio across from the public library on Hull Street in historic Manchester. We talked about his life as an artist and the assemblaged, surreal, almost divine inspirations that shape his work. His practice feels like a product of risking absurdity now and then,...
When I called Nicolás Aguilar earlier this week, he was standing on a Richmond street corner waiting to meet a few of the men who appear in his new exhibition at Art Brigade inside Health Brigade. They were planning to attend the opening together later that evening, a small but meaningful reversal. He had spent years sitting with them in their...
Editor’s Note: This piece was written by a student at Randolph-Macon College as part of a feature writing course. Thank you to the students and to Professor Seth Clabough, Ph.D., for organizing the project. Where there was once a forest full of life and hidden history, now sits a grey brick of concrete, pumping out steam from its belly,...
Record stores have always been more than retail. People go in saying they’re just browsing, but that’s rarely the whole story. It’s a treasure hunt. They’re chasing a feeling. They’re hoping to recognize themselves in someone else’s taste. That’s why Plan 9 Music makes sense as the setting for Love & Vinyl, a site-specific...
