ARTIST IN RESIDENCE: MARK STRANDQUIST; FILL THE WALLS WITH HOPE…

In this time of social isolation, art and culture give us an expansive means to communicate, empathize and flourish. From the functional to the decorative, the presence of art in our civic landscape has a measurable impact on our health and wellbeing.

We are proud to announce Mark Strandquist as Studio Two Three’s first For as Long as Such Images are Needed resident artist. Mark Strandquist has spent years using art to help amplify, celebrate, and power social justice movements.

Mark founded and co-leads the Performing Statistics project, which has worked with youth impacted by the juvenile justice system to create media campaigns and immersive exhibitions that have helped advocates close a prison, pass laws, train hundreds of police officers, and connect the dreams and demands of communities impacted by the criminal justice system with tens of thousands of people.

He has received multiple awards, fellowships, national residencies, and reached wide audiences through the NY Times, the Guardian, NPR, the Washington Post, PBS NewsHour, VICE, and many others.

Based in Philadelphia, Fill the Walls With Hope, Rage, Resources, and Dreams, began in early March, 2020 in response to the growing number of boarded up businesses, emptiness, and fear that was spreading across the city. Project organizer Mark Strandquist put out a call asking artists and poets, "If you could fill the walls with your words and images, what would you share in this moment to support folks emotional/mental health, share resources, and help us all dream of a more just, creative, and beautiful future?" As submissions came in, they were printed and wheat pasted on blank walls and boarded up businesses. Within a month dozens of artists had shared their work, over a thousand posters had been put up across the city, and thousands of people had visited the website to see and download art to post online or print for their windows.

Beginning as an urgent response to the Covid19 crisis, the project has since developed partnerships with journalists, non-profits, and city programs to help spread public health information and graphics to thousands of residents through yard signs, virtual billboards, vinyl decals at free food distribution sites (giving people safe places to stand while sharing hopeful images and information), and a multitude of mass distribution strategies.

The installation at ICA features art from their growing collection, as well as powerful pieces from the downloadable collections curated by JustSeeds and Amplifier.

For their collaboration with Studio Two Three, #FilltheWallsWithHope is excited to create a large scale wheat paste mural that combines urgently needed public health information, with posters that thank the many frontline workers, call out politics in this crucial moment, and imagine a more equitable future on the other side of this crisis.

Fill the Walls now has dozens of artist contributions. You can download their work for free here and wheat paste them in your own community. If you’re an artist, you can also contribute a piece to the project.

Our first installation at the Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA) is a selection of works from this collection, including prints by:

Lisa Volrath

Kill Joy

Landon Sheely

Brian Herrera

Josh MacPhee

JustSeeds and Amplifier Collections

We invite you to stroll by the ICA to see their work in person.