Hallowed Ground

By L'Rai Arthur-Mensah, Executive Account Director with Local Projects

Stepping onto the 10 acres in the historic Richmond, Virginia district of Shockoe Bottom, the ground speaks to you. If you would only listen, it begins to share stories of its people, this place. Stories steeped in oppression, dehumanization, cruelty but also resilience, resistance, self-determination.

As someone who has dedicated my career and life’s work to humanizing history through storytelling so that we may give stories of the past the power to inform our present and embolden people who come in contact with these stories to make future change; the Shockoe Institute has offered a unique and rare opportunity to connect the dots for all who visit.

We are using the power of history and place to promote the public understanding of the historic roots of America’s socioeconomic challenges by communicating the enduring impact of the domestic slave trade. The domestic slave trade which conducted business on this hallowed ground directly adjacent to the home of the Shockoe Institute.

This is an undertaking that presents much risk, but also an enormous opportunity to shift the collective consciousness and provide a space for understanding that will have generational impact. I believe that the legacy of this project will be not just in its mere existence but also in the conversations it will foster, the new approaches that will arise from those who will engage and commit to the work that must ensue.

I am grateful to have the opportunity to work with such visionaries, creative thinkers, folks who are committed to the work that this requires. Across the board, members of the Shockoe Institute, Baskervill Architects and my close colleagues at Local Projects have rolled up our sleeves and dug into how to best design an experience that will take visitors by the hand and teach them what they were never taught, while also focusing efforts to engage thought-leaders, scholars, and others to scale the results of what Marland Buckner calls the "shifted prism."

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It is an honor to work with the Shockoe Institute and participate in bringing such a courageous vision to life. One of the things that has been most exciting for us is to collaborate on an interpretive approach that embodies a spirit of generosity: that means “speaking" directly and openly to our visitors without obfuscating, guiding them to pay attention to historic truths that will be shocking to many, and giving prominence to the manifestation of those truths in our society today." ~ Amanda White, Director of Content with Local Projects

The Shockoe Institute project is one of these rare opportunities to tell meaningful stories with courage and integrity. The Client team has a clear vision for the Institute as a dynamic place of debate and scholarship all in the service of truth about American history, highlighting the role of Richmond as a hub for the domestic slave trade.” ~ Nico Guillin, Creative Director with Local Projects

About Local Projects:

Local Projects is a multi-disciplinary design studio with over two decades of experience in culture, educational, and brand experience design. We are best known for technologically advanced work that drives emotional engagement. Located in NYC, we collaborate with a wide range of clients regionally and internationally, utilizing our unique capabilities and creative process to produce world-class projects in the field of exhibition design, experience design, and media.

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