March 26, 2008 — Artist Sherri Lynn Wood will bring her "Mantra Trailer" to Charlottesville's Downtown Mall on Sunday, March 30, from 6 to 7:30 p.m., and the University of Virginia Grounds near Minor Hall on April 1, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wood will also give a public lecture, "Subversive Complicit Acts of Devotion," about her work on March 31 in Campbell Hall, room 160, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. All events are free and open to the public.

Wood's Mantra Trailer project lies at the intersection of imagination, evangelism and propaganda. The 1972 breadbox trailer in which Wood is touring the United States is conceived as a meditation space and recording studio. Passers by are invited into the trailer to contemplate, voice, chant and explore their prayers, aspirations, desires, frustrations and petitions for the transformation of self and society. The exterior of the trailer serves as a visual representation of people's mantras, with the sides of the trailer hosting a changeable marquee — reminiscent of a church signboard — while the interior space remains sacred, oriented to meditation, according to the artist's Web site, mantratrailer.com. Directional speakers on the exterior continuously broadcast a mix of pre-recorded mantras.

The events and lecture are co-sponsorsed by the sculpture area of U.Va.'s Studio Art Department, the University's arts administration class and Charlottesville's Christ Episcopal Church's Community Arts Program.

Wood holds masters' degrees in fine art in sculpture from Bard College and theological studies from Emory University. Most of her creative projects invite others to participate and spring from her daily life experiences and quest for personal growth. Through this work, she explores civic relationships that can lead to personal and social change for all.

For more information contact Bill Bennett at (434) 924-6138, whb@virginia.edu or Kate Daughdrill at kate.daughdrill@gmail.com.