Today we’d like to introduce you to Sherrill Roland.
Hi Sherrill, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I would begin with my graduate school thesis project because it fundamentally shaped my ongoing work. During graduate school, I was wrongfully incarcerated, an experience that drastically altered the path I envisioned for my life and art. When I returned, I had to navigate completing my degree while also processing what happened to me.
My thesis became a way to confront that experience through art. It became The Jumpsuit Project, in which I wore an orange jumpsuit in public spaces and invited people to conversations about incarceration, identity, and what happens when someone is reduced to the assumptions attached to that uniform.
From there, the work continued to expand. I began using the visual language of incarceration, including the materials, objects, uniforms, architecture, bureaucratic systems, and restrictions that structure life inside, and translating those things into sculpture and installation. My practice has taken me into museums, galleries, universities, and public spaces, and each setting has given me another way to think about sculpture as something that can create an encounter rather than simply exist as an object.
That path ultimately led me to UNC, where I’m now a full-time professor of sculpture. Much of what I care about as an artist shapes how I work with students. This includes exploring and questioning, experimenting with materials, and being intentional in my studio work. Now I’m in a position to help other artists develop their own practices and figure out what they want their work to do in the world.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
No, bumpy for sure. It was when I tried to be in control. When I gave up trying to control it, the smoothness just kind of takes care of itself.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m a conceptual artist whose practice examines the American criminal justice system and the ways incarceration affects identity, perception, and human relationships. I work across sculpture, installation, performance, and socially engaged art. A lot of my work comes from my own experience with wrongful incarceration, but I use that experience as an entry point into larger conversations about systems, power, confinement, and the people navigating those realities.
Knowing that I make my mom, family, and friends proud.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
One of my favorite childhood memories is having my artwork selected from my high school art class for display at the Asheville Mall. Later, my aunt purchased it, and it still hangs in their home today.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.sherrillroland.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sherrillroland
- Other: https://www.tanyabonakdargallery.com/artists/85-sherrill-roland/
