There’s something about the dead center of winter that brings out the best in humanity. It might be the desire to stay huddled around the fire, TV, or kitchen table, when your people begin to look more like fellow travelers in life rather than the people constantly...
By documenting the neglect and restoration of East End Cemetery, 1708 Gallery's The Afterlife Of Jim Crow examines the way racism continues to affect African-American communities -- even after death. On the border of Henrico County, minutes from Interstate 64, sits Richmond’s formerly abandoned East End Cemetery. Neglected for decades, tangles of...
“I’ll be right with you,” says Timothy Stewart, before padding off to excitedly explain a series of crystals to a customer. Crystals mean a lot to Stewart. He believes they are alive. He believes they have the ability to change your life. Stewart works the floor at the Aquarian, a bookshop skirting the very edge of the Fan. But only a corner of...
Welcome back, comic fans of the River City! Welcome to RVA Comic X-Change, Issue Lucky Number Thirteen! Only good things come in a baker’s dozen, and we’re just one of them. This week we’ve got a good handful of goodies just for you coming out in the next two weeks. We’ve got some feminism for you, some romance, and because I can not think about...
The Valentine’s exhibit, Monument Avenue: General Demotion/General Devotion, isn’t meant to stir up controversy, said Bill Martin, museum director. But the exhibit, which premiered last Thursday (yes, on Valentine's Day), is meant to provoke meaningful conversation about the future of Monument Avenue -- a future that has been the topic of much...
A designer by nature, Kim Jones not only crafts handmade statement jewelry, but also works to pollinate the work of fellow artisans through her nascent small business, ANTHER. What started as a passion project stemming from her love for painting expanded into the curated jewelry business known and loved by empowered Richmond women, and inspired...
From body snatchers to windowless basement clinics, the history of African-American health care in Virginia is an ugly one. And as The Valentine's Controversy/History series revealed last week, some of those problems are still all-too-prevalent today. Beliefs based in pseudoscience made access to Virginia’s healthcare system harder for...
Becoming the Virginia Museum Of Contemporary Art's new Executive Director is a homecoming of sorts for Norfolk native Gary Ryan. Born into a family of artists, Norfolk native Gary Ryan was destined to make a name for herself in the art world -- even it wasn’t in the most obvious way. The new director for the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art...
Welcome back, fellow comic book fans! Here comes the newest installment of your go-to column for what is new and coming in the land of comics. This week we are over-analyzing the quickest Avengers: Endgame teaser trailer we could have asked for. and topping it off with some nice and cute recommendations just in time for Valentine’s Day. So cuddle...
*This article originally appeared in RVA Mag #35, on the streets now at all your favorite spots. Chris Smart is a photographer, artist, and visual engineer based in Richmond, Virginia. In Smart’s work, he brings to life the physical and metaphysical connections we all have with our surroundings. “We are constantly on the hunt for a connection,...
