Sherrill Roland

Sherrill Roland (born 1984) is an African-American artist best known for his The Jumpsuit Project, a performance-arts based project that challenges viewers to face the prejudices and judgements surrounding those incarcerated.

Early life and education Sherrill Roland was born in 1984, in Asheville, North Carolina. In 2009, he received a bachelor's degree in fine arts from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. In 2013, while Sherrill Roland was a graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, he was wrongfully accused of four felonies. Before an indictment was reached, he finished his first year of grad school.

Though Roland's art is not primarily religious, Roland is open about the fact that prayer and reading the Bible were things that helped him get by. While in prison, Roland initially struggled with the concept of innocence. He believed that he was different from the other men serving time at the D.C. Central Detention Facility. Through his conversations with the men there, and through religion, he came to realize that he is not as innocent as he believed and that no man is perfect; Roland recognized the judgements he had made about those who are incarcerated. Upon initially returning to North Carolina, Roland considered a career change and did not want to continue with art school. For his master's in fine arts thesis project, Roland wore an orange jumpsuit every day on campus. During this performance art project, he documented his interactions and encounters with both peers and campus faculty. Roland created guidelines to follow for his thesis project that mimicked the rules he had to obey in prison. He thought of his studio space as his cell, and the art building as the block. When walking to and from places on campus, Roland couldn't stop and talk to people, or else he had to go back to his “block.” Over time, students and faculty at the university began responding to Roland; having conversations with him about his time incarcerated as well as sharing their own stories of loved ones who had been in the system.

Career

The Jumpsuit Project The Jumpsuit Project is Sherrill Roland's current and ongoing, performance-arts based project. It's a continuation of the work he did for his master's thesis at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro; like his thesis project, he wears an orange jumpsuit to every performance. In this project, he hopes to change people's perceptions of those imprisoned and end the stigma that surrounds the penal system. Like the performances he did for his thesis project, Roland follows the same rules he created, and has even added a few more since his work at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Now, when hosting talks and discussions as part of his performances, Roland tapes a 7×9 rectangle onto the floor of the space. The Greensboro News & Record (a newspaper for Greensboro, North Carolina), when talking about the rules Roland follows in his performances, stated that “these rules are an inconvenience to Roland. But they are also disruptive to people trying to contact Roland. That’s the point.” On Wednesday, April 10, 2019, Sherrill Roland invited audience members and the public to the de La Cruz Art Gallery, at Georgetown University from 10:30am to 3:30pm to both listen in on him sharing his stories as well as invite participants to converse with him and share their own perspectives and accounts. This performance was a three-day event that took place from Tuesday, May 23, to Thursday, May 25. In this performance Roland changed throughout the three days from talking to participants through a visitation booth he set up, to talking to audience members in a taped 7×9 rectangle. For many, Roland's project is a chance to self-reflect, find support, and heal. The text overtop of these collages are only in three different colors: black, red, and blue. The piece is representative of how many inmates use water to paste toilet paper onto the window of their cell to give themselves a little bit of privacy. On October 9, 2019, Roland met with inmates at the Mecklenburg County Detention facility in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Awards, residencies, and fellowships 2020 South Arts State Fellow and Southern Grand Prize Winner, South Arts, Atlanta, Georgia

2019

McColl Center for Art + Innovation Residency, Charlotte, North Carolina Fountainhead Residency, Miami, Florida. Right to Return Fellowship, SOZE agency, New York City, New York

2018

Post-MFA Fellow in Documentary Arts, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina