Graffiti 101 Workshop

A longtime creative culture worker, Stowers is co-founder of the Double Down Kings, the region’s largest graffiti crew with over 300 members, and founder of the 14th Street Graffiti Museum in DC. He currently serves as Executive Director of DC Murals, a nonprofit documenting the city’s public art since 1997, and leads ART B.L.O.C. DC, a creative consultancy for public storytelling through design and mural work. Stowers’s newly released book, To The East: The Rise of Public Murals East of the River, will be available for purchase during the exhibition.

Graffiti Workshop builds from the current exhibit at 9s Studios:

Alternate Identities: A Retrospective from the Double Down Kings ArtchiveCurated by Cory Lee StowersAugust 1 – October 31, 2025 | 9S Studios, Easton, Maryland

Alternate Identities is an exhibition exploring over three decades of graffiti culture in the Washington, DC region and beyond. Curated by subcultural anthropologist, artist, and author Cory Lee Stowers, the show features more than 50 original works—canvas pieces, sketches, photographs, and found objects—handpicked by 9S Studio from the Double Down Kings Artchive, one of the most comprehensive graffiti collections in the area.

At its core, Alternate Identities is a story about names—how they're chosen, how they're written, and how they live on walls, trains, and in communities. This immersive retrospective brings viewers into the world of style writing, where coded letters, layered textures, and iconography reflect not only artistic mastery but also social commentary, resistance, and personal identity.

The exhibit features rare and intimate post-graffiti works created between 1992 and 2025, including pieces from Stowers’s private archive—a 30-year collection of gifted, acquired, and self-produced work. Through these visual artifacts, Alternate Identities traces the evolution of a subculture that has long existed in the margins, yet has shaped the urban landscape in profound ways.

The exhibit expands with new contributions from the Inner Circle Art / AI Crew—a group of writers from Eastern Maryland who helped redefine Washington, DC’s graffiti scene in the late 1990s. Works by Shawn Adomais, Kink’d Ink, and Evil highlight the cross-regional collaborations that have fueled graffiti’s reach and resilience over the past decades. Leaving a lasting mark not only in urban environments, but in suburban and rural spaces as well.

• A curator talk and screening of the rarely seen documentary Chocolate City Burning, 2008 by Nick Smith, (September 20, 5–8 PM) provides deeper historical context on the DC graffiti movement and the legendary Dot Com crew. $5/movie tickets with popcorn and non-alcholic drinks available for sale.

Info: A longtime culture worker, Stowers is co-founder of the Double Down Kings, the region’s largest graffiti crew with over 300 members, and founder of the 14th Street Graffiti Museum in DC. He currently serves as Executive Director of DC Murals, a nonprofit documenting the city’s public art since 1997, and leads ART B.L.O.C. DC, a creative consultancy for public storytelling through design and mural work.

Stowers’ newly released book, To The East: The Rise of Public Murals East of the River, will be available for purchase throughout the exhibition.

Info: Screening of the rarely seen documentary Chocolate City Burning, 2008 by Nick Smith provides deeper historical context on the DC graffiti movement and the legendary Dot Com crew. $5/movie ticket sold at the door (Cash/Venmo/Square)

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

9S Studios, 9 South Harrison Street, Easton, United States