For WPA’s current program season, we invited DC-area artist duos to submit proposals for projects that center intergenerational collaboration. The invitation was issued as part of a juried open call conducted this past summer. Conceived in concert with WPA’s 50th Anniversary and the recent launch of our digital archive, this prompt reflects on the potential of intergenerational community-building among artists in the District as a way to carry forward vulnerable histories and imagine resilient futures.

Applications were reviewed by a panel that included art historian and curator Martina Dodd, transdisciplinary artist and filmmaker Mojdeh Rezaeipour, and critic and scholar Tavia Nyong’o.

The final projects selected by this panel will be presented over the next seven months. They include: Braids and Threads: Connecting Legacies by Monica Jahan Bose and Autumn Spears (December 2025–March 2026) and One Stroke At A Time by Lorenzo Piero Holder III and Dr. Vicenzio Holder Perkins (Spring/Summer 2026).

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Braids and Threads: Connecting Legacies

Organized by Monica Jahan Bose & Autumn Spears

December 12, 2025–March 8, 2026

For Braids and Threads, opening next month, Bose and Spears will engage in a series of conversations about heritage, mothers, and ancestors. Together, they will consider how weaving inherited knowledge into contemporary work can promote resilience. Using the concepts, stories, and ideas arising from these conversations, the two artist-organizers will create an installation in the WPA space using multilingual text, embroidery, braiding, sewing, fiber art, and printmaking. It will be an evolving exhibition and work-space, where other artists and community members are invited to drop in and contribute with their own stories and art-making.

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One Stroke at a Time

Organized by Lorenzo Piero Holder III & Dr. Vicenzio Holder Perkins

Spring/Summer 2026

One Stroke at a Time, to be presented next spring, is a collaborative project between Lorenzo Piero Holder III and his uncle Dr. Vicenzio Holder Perkins, a psychiatrist turned visual artist during his stroke recovery. Their project explores what it means to move and make in sync, across generations shaped by trauma, resilience, and queerness. Their installation will include layered drawings, visual scores, audio recordings, and documentation of their collaborative movement practices.

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Both projects will be presented in our new location in Dupont Circle (1350 Connecticut Ave. NW), opening on December 12th in conjunction with the beginning of Braids and Threads: Connecting Legacies.

More info to come!