Tyler History Center
Youngstown, Ohio
The exhibition narrative of Untold Stories: Youngstown objectified outmoded imagery of my blighted ‘Rust Belt’ hometown and employed these symbols as allegories to evoke questions about neighborhood decay and gentrification, segregation and integrated cities, generations of unemployment, and economic redevelopment. Exhibited at the Tyler History Center, I created archival photographic interventions and juxtaposed materials selected from the Mahoning Valley Historical Society holdings with my prints. I interviewed community members on camera for two Youngstown and the other Steel City.
Tim Francisco Interviews Jennifer Vanderpool for WYSU, Youngstown, Ohio
“Making Social Art in Youngstown,” in Car Bombs to Cookie Tables: The Youngstown Anthology, edited by Jacqueline Marino. Second Edition. Cleveland: Belt Publishing, 2020.
Yes She Can: Women and the Steel Industry Panel
March 12, 2019
Eliese Colette Goldbach, Noted author and former steel mill worker, Cleveland, Ohio
Jacqueline Marino, Author and Associate Professor of Journalism, Kent State University
Mary E. Triece, Author and Professor in the School of Communication and Director of the Women Studies Program, The University of Akron
Moderated by Jennifer Vanderpool
Pittsburgh to Cleveland, 2018
84″ x 42″
Archival Photographic Intervention Print
Pittsburgh to Youngstown, 2018
36″ x 42″
Giclée Print
Youngstown to Toledo, 2018
36″ x 42″
Giclée Print
Nostalgia and Heavy Industry from Jennifer Vanderpool on Vimeo.
Women and Working Class Jobs from Jennifer Vanderpool on Vimeo.
Deindustrialization from Jennifer Vanderpool on Vimeo.
Defining Deindustrialization from Jennifer Vanderpool on Vimeo.
Crisis of Masculinity from Jennifer Vanderpool on Vimeo.
Redlining from Jennifer Vanderpool on Vimeo.
Education from Jennifer Vanderpool on Vimeo.
The Arts from Jennifer Vanderpool on Vimeo.
The Rust Belt and the Shape of Work from Jennifer Vanderpool on Vimeo.
Opiods from Jennifer Vanderpool on Vimeo.
Social Amnesia from Jennifer Vanderpool on Vimeo.
Social Justice and Political Will from Jennifer Vanderpool on Vimeo.
Boots on the Ground from Jennifer Vanderpool on Vimeo.
Exhibition Documentation
Historic Image, Steel Worker
Historic Image, Ukrainian Folk Festival Dancers
Historic Image, Shoppers at Strouss Department Store in Downtown Youngstown
Untold Stories, 2019 Exhibition Panel “Yes She Can: Women in Steel” from Jennifer Vanderpool on Vimeo.
Leiden, Netherlands | 2020
“Performing Imaginary Life,” Sensing Style: Subcultural Movements in the 21st Century, Leiden University
Ha Noi, Vietnam | 2021
Keynote Speaker, 'Surviving the Fantasies of Modernization' Ha Noi Ad Hoc and RMIT Vietnam, with support from UNESCO
Flyer for Keynote Speaker, 'Surviving the Fantasies of Modernization'
Ha Noi Ad Hoc and RMIT Vietnam, with support from UNESCO, Ha
Noi, VietnamJennifer discussed her ongoing project, Garment Girl, which investigates women's labor in the global textile industry.
Her co-presenter was Mila Rosenthal, a human rights educator and professor at Columbia University's Institute for the Study of Human Rights. She spoke about the March 8 Textile Factory, a significant site for the Vietnamese Communist Party's efforts in the 1960s and 1970s to manufacture a modern socialist society, economy, city, and family.
Michal Teague, Design Studies Lecturer at RMIT Hanoi City campus, moderated the discussion.
July 27, 2021
Quito, Ecuador| 2021
Artist Talk, Flores para el Trueque Museo de Arte, Universidad San Francisco de Quito
November 18, 2021
Cardiff, Wales | 2022
Global Wales Fulbright Forum
April 8, 2022
Liverpool, UK | 2022
Centre for the Culture of Everyday Life, the University of Liverpool
Derby, UK | 2025
Untold Stories: Social Activism through Art and Research Arts and Humanities Research Institute, University of Sheffield
Los Angeles, CA | 2023
Fine Arts Visiting Artist Lecture, Otis College of Art and Design
Sheffield, UK | 2023
Creating Thriving Post-Industrial Cities, Festival of Debate
Flyer for Symposium Creating Thriving Post-Industrial Cities, Festival of Debate, Sheffield, UK
Jennifer and Dr. Lizzy Craig-Atkins, from the University of Sheffield, co-organized this event.
The symposium evolved from Jennifer Vanderpool's ongoing social practice art exhibitions, Untold Stories, a series of community-specific and site-responsive exhibitions that have occurred in the Deindustrialized Midwest Region of the U.S.A. and the Industrial North of England. Panellists offered multivocal perspectives, including workers, activists, artists, and scholars from Liverpool, UK; Sheffield, UK; Akron, Ohio; and Youngstown, Ohio.
May 22, 2023
Birkenhead, UK | 2023
Crafting a Vibrant Future, Open Door Charity
Flyer for Artist Talk and Craftivism Workshop at Open Door Charity.
Birkenhead, UK.
May 31, 2023
Belfast, Northern Ireland | 2024
Queen Mary’s University Deindustrialization and the Politics of Our Time, Summer Institute
Flyer for Lecture, Deindustrialization and the Politics of Our Time, Summer Institute, Queen Mary’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Jennifer co-taught the Graduate Workshop Integrating Arts-Based and Community-Based Approaches in Post-Industrial Memory Research with Dr. Guilherme Pozzer from the University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
June 2024
Glasgow, Scotland | 2024
Gender, Family and Deindustrialization, University of Strathclyde Deindustrialization and the Politics of Our Time, Annual Conference
Sheffield, UK | 2024
Crafting the Past, University of Sheffield
Flyer for Artist Talk
Empowering Communities through Creative Writing, Visual Narratives, Memory, and Place-Making, The University of Sheffield.
June 29, 2024
Sheffield, UK | 2024
Festival of Archeology, Council for British Archaeology
Flyer for Workshops, Sheffield Crafting the Past Online Workshops, Council for British Archaeology.
Dr. Gui Posser and Dr. Jennifer Vanderpool offered online workshops on creative writing and visual storytelling to address challenges faced by post-industrial communities.
July 27, 2024, and August 2, 2024
Los Angeles, CA | 2025
Call Festival, UCLA School of Law
Flyer for Artist Talk, Connecting Art and Law for Liberation, UCLA Law School
Visionary artists, activists, attorneys, advocates, legal scholars, and community members shared innovative, cutting-edge collaborations at the intersection of ART and LAW - aimed at imagining a world without prisons, policing, and surveillance.
Presented with Los Angeles-based curator Rachel Schmid.
April 19, 2025
Derby, UK | 2025
CivicLAB Annual Conference, University of Derby
Flyer for Artist Talk, CivicLAB Annual Conference, University of Derby
Neighbourhood Assembly: Arts-led, co-productive research & practice for comfortable, energy-efficient homes, green skills and quality jobs, and thriving places.
Presented with Dr Rachel Macrorie, Nottingham Trent University.
June 25, 2025