Justin Randolph Thompson is an artist, cultural facilitator and educator born in Peekskill, NY in ’79. Based between Italy and the US since 1999, Thompson is Co-Founder and Director of Black History Month Florence, a multi-faceted exploration of Black histories and cultures in the context of Italy founded in 2016. Having realized, coordinated, curated, facilitated and promoted over 300 events and with 8 ongoing research platforms, the initiative has been reframed as a Black cultural center called The Recovery Plan.
Thompson is a recipient of a 2022 Creative Capital Award, a 2020 Italian Council Research Fellowship, a Louis Comfort Tiffany Award, a Franklin Furnace Fund Award, a Visual Artist Grant from the Fundacion Marcelino Botin and an Emerging Artist Fellowship from Socrates Sculpture Park amongst others. His work and performances have been exhibited widely in institutions including The Whitney Museum of American Art, the Centro de Arte Reina Sofia and The American Academy in Rome and are part of numerous collections including The Studio Museum in Harlem, and the Museo MADRE. His life and work seek to deepen the discussions around socio-cultural stratification and the arrogance of permanence by employing fleeting temporary communities as monuments and fostering projects that connect academic discourse, social activism and DIY networking strategies in annual and biennial gathering, sharing and gestures of collectivity.
To see more of his work visit his website HERE
Justin has visited Toronto twice so far in the past year as part of The Global Experience Project. His first visit was in March 2023, where he participated as a guest in Cross Disciplinary and Painting and Drawing thesis critiques and studio visits with students. Students and community members were also invited to join a Historical tour of Kensington Market as well as his public artist talk held at OCAD University. His second visit was in September 2023, where he met with some community partners and created an exhibition and live performance event in partnership with Stackt Market. We are expecting Justin to continue his work with us, making it back to Toronto January 4-11, 2024 to set up a mobilized version of The Recovery Plan, where students will be able to access resources as well as assist in the making of this iteration of the project. Stay tuned for more information on this!