On Tuesday, April 29, the Spelman Faculty Museum of High quality Artwork hosted artist Amanda Williams in dialog with musician and Grammy Award-winning artist Corinne Bailey Rae to debate Williams’ new e book, What Black Is This, You Say?
The night introduced collectively two influential Black ladies from distinct inventive disciplines, providing college students and attendees a glimpse into the intersections of artwork, music, id, and course of. The e book expands on Williams’ acclaimed public artwork set up of the identical identify, which was first displayed at New York Metropolis’s Storefront for Artwork and Structure between 2021 and 2023.
Dr. Liz Andrews, govt director of the Spelman Faculty Museum of High quality Artwork, highlighted the worth for Spelman college students in attendance.
“The factor about artwork and creativity is that there are issues that transcend style,” Andrews stated. “Artists are sometimes expert in lots of areas, however we hardly ever get to listen to about their course of. This dialog gave us perception not solely into their artistry, however into their friendship and the way they navigate inventive lives as Black ladies.”
Williams, a MacArthur “genius grant” recipient skilled in structure, defined how the venture started throughout the COVID-19 lockdowns, when she began posting each day photos on social media with the query, “What Black is that this?” These photos and captions, which served as a satirical and introspective response to a time of racial reckoning, advanced into an interactive public art work.
The publication options Williams’ work expanded by way of essays, poems and reflections by an intimate group of Williams’ friends and collaborators — together with Roxane Homosexual, Jenna Wortham and Bailey Rae herself.
Bailey Rae’s contribution displays on Williams’ Stevie Surprise–impressed items. Her essay, titled Stevie’s Eyelids Black, highlights the subversive energy of Surprise’s work.
“Stevie’s bought this factor of like, ‘a spoonful of sugar helps the drugs go down,’” she stated. “His music is gorgeous, lyrical, and washes by way of you — but it surely’s additionally deeply radical, tackling poverty, racism and institutional oppression.”
Bailey Rae shared why returning to Spelman was personally significant.
“That is my second time talking at Spelman, and I really feel a deep connection to this place,” she stated. “It’s an educational area, an all-Black area, a feminine area — one thing I by no means skilled throughout my very own schooling, the place I used to be usually the one Black scholar and had no Black professors.”
She mirrored on her early profession within the U.Ok. music business, the place range was scarce behind the scenes.
“After I signed with EMI within the early 2000s, I sat at a desk with 20 white executives. By the point I left, I’d labored with possibly one Black particular person in a management position. But, so lots of the artists have been Black. That’s why a spot like Spelman is so highly effective — it’s intentional about championing Black ladies’s work in areas designed for and by them.”
Bailey Rae additionally emphasised the mentorship she has discovered by way of her friendship with Williams.
“Amanda’s wonderful — she’s Black, a lady, skilled as an architect, and an artist. Our paths might differ, however we’ve constructed this connection. I can ask her actual questions — about hiring, powerful conversations, and managing a workforce. These are issues I’ve had to determine alone as an artist operating a enterprise.”
The exhibition marks the primary time lots of Williams’ pandemic-era work have been proven collectively. The present will run until Might 24, 2025.
