ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Amanda Williams - Visual artist
Amanda Williams blurs the distinction between art and architecture through works that employ color as a way to draw attention to the political complexities of race, place and value in cities.

Why you should listen

The landscapes in which Amanda Williams operates are the visual residue of the invisible policies and forces that have misshapen most inner cities. Her installations, paintings, video and works on paper seek to inspire new ways of looking at the familiar -- and raise questions about the state of urban space in America in the process.

Williams has exhibited widely, including the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale, a solo exhibition at the MCA Chicago, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Pulitzer Arts Foundation in St. Louis. She is a 2018 United States Artists Fellow, a Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters & Sculptors grantee, an Efroymson Family Arts Fellow, a Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow and a member of the multidisciplinary Museum Design team for the Obama Presidential Center. She is this year's Bill and Stephanie Sick Distinguished Visiting Professor at the School of the Art Institute Chicago and has previously served as a visiting assistant professor of architecture at Cornell University and Washington University in St. Louis. She lives and works on Chicago's south side.

More profile about the speaker
Amanda Williams | Speaker | TED.com
TEDWomen 2018

Amanda Williams: Why I turned Chicago's abandoned homes into art

Amanda Williams: Por que transformei casas abandonadas de Chicago em arte

Filmed:
307,070 views

Nesta poderosa palestra visual, Amanda Williams compartilha sua fascinação ao longo da vida pela complexidade da cor: de suas experiências com a raça e a recusa de crédito até a descoberta da teoria das cores para seu trabalho como artista. Viaje com Williams até South Side, em Chicago, e explore "Color(ed) Theory", um projeto de arte de dois anos em que ela pintou casas em vias de demolição com cores monocromáticas ousadas introduzidas com significados locais, incentivando conversas e tornando o oculto visível.
- Visual artist
Amanda Williams blurs the distinction between art and architecture through works that employ color as a way to draw attention to the political complexities of race, place and value in cities. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:13
I really love color.
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Adoro realmente as cores.
00:17
I notice it everywhere and in everything.
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Reparo nelas em todo lugar e em tudo.
00:21
My family makes fun of me
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Minha família tira sarro de mim
00:23
because I like to use colors
with elusive-sounding names,
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porque gosto de usar cores
com nomes indefiníveis,
00:27
like celadon ...
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como "celadon"...
00:29
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
00:30
ecru ...
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cru...
00:33
carmine.
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carmim.
00:36
Now, if you haven't noticed,
I am black, thank you --
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Caso não tenham notado,
sou negra, obrigada,
00:40
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
00:41
and when you grow up
in a segregated city as I have,
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e quando se cresce numa cidade segregada,
como eu cresci, em Chicago,
00:43
like Chicago,
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você está sujeito a acreditar
00:44
you're conditioned to believe
that color and race can never be separate.
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que a cor e a raça
nunca podem ser separadas.
00:51
There's hardly a day that goes by
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Dificilmente se passa um dia
00:53
that somebody is not
reminding you of your color.
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em que alguém
não lembre você de sua cor.
00:58
Racism is my city's vivid hue.
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O racismo é o tom vívido de minha cidade.
01:03
Now, we can all agree that race
is a socially constructed phenomenon,
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Todos podemos concordar que a raça
é um fenômeno criado socialmente,
01:09
but it's often hard to see it
in our everyday existence.
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mas é difícil entender isso
em nossa existência cotidiana.
01:12
Its pervasiveness is everywhere.
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Está presente em toda parte.
01:15
The neighborhoods I grew up in
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Os bairros em que cresci
01:17
were filled with a kind of
culturally coded beauty.
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estavam repletos de um tipo
de beleza culturalmente codificada.
01:20
Major commercial corridors were lined
with brightly painted storefronts
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Os principais corredores comerciais
tinham fachadas de cores vivas
01:25
that competed for black consumer dollars.
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que competiam pelo dinheiro
dos consumidores negros.
01:27
The visual mash-ups of corner stores
and beauty supply houses,
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Pela mistura visual de lojas
de esquina, bonitos armazéns
01:32
currency exchanges,
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e casas de câmbio,
01:34
are where I actually, inadvertently
learned the foundational principles
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aprendi, de modo inconsciente,
os princípios fundamentais
01:38
of something I would later
come to know is called color theory.
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de algo que, mais tarde, eu descobriria
que se chama "teoria das cores".
01:44
I can remember being pretty intimidated
by this term in college --
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Eu me lembro de ficar muito intimidada
com essa expressão na faculdade:
01:48
color theory.
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teoria das cores.
01:49
All these stuffy old white guys
with their treatises
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Todos aqueles caras brancos
antiquados com seus tratados
01:52
and obscure terminologies.
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e terminologias obscuras.
01:56
I'd mastered each one of their
color palettes and associated principles.
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Eu havia dominado cada uma
das paletas de cores
e dos princípios associados delas.
02:02
Color theory essentially boils down
to the art and science
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A teoria das cores se resume,
principalmente, à arte e à ciência
02:06
of using color to form
compositions and spaces.
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de usar a cor para formar
composições e espaços.
02:11
It's not so complicated.
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Não é muito complicado.
02:15
This was my bible in college.
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Essa era minha bíblia na faculdade.
02:19
Josef Albers posited a theory
about the color red,
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Josef Albers apresentou uma teoria
sobre a cor vermelha
02:24
and it always has stuck with me.
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da qual nunca me esqueci.
02:27
He argues that the iconic
color of a cola can is red,
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Ele defende que a cor popular
de uma lata de Coca é o vermelho
02:33
and that in fact
all of us can agree that it's red
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e que, de fato, todos nós
concordamos que é o vermelho,
02:36
but the kinds of reds that we imagine
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mas os tipos de vermelho que imaginamos
02:38
are as varied as the number
of people in this room.
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são tão variados quanto o número
de pessoas nesta sala.
02:43
So imagine that.
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Imaginem isso.
02:44
This color that we've all been
taught since kindergarten is primary --
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Essa cor, que todos aprendemos,
desde a pré-escola, que é primária:
02:48
red, yellow, blue --
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vermelho, amarelo, azul,
02:50
in fact is not primary,
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na verdade, não é primária;
02:52
is not irreducible,
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pode ser reduzida;
02:54
is not objective but quite subjective.
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não é objetiva, mas é muito subjetiva.
02:59
What?
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Como é que é?
03:00
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
03:02
Albers called this "relational."
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Albers a chama de "relacional".
03:06
Relational.
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Relacional.
03:08
And so it was the first time
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Foi a primeira vez que pude ver
03:09
that I was able to see my own neighborhood
as a relational context.
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meu próprio bairro
como um contexto relacional.
03:16
Each color is affected by its neighbor.
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Cada cor é afetada pela cor vizinha.
03:21
Each other is affected by its neighbor.
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Cada uma é afetada pelo seu vizinho.
03:29
In the 1930s,
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Nos anos 1930,
03:32
the United States government created
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o governo dos EUA
criou a Federal Housing Administration,
03:35
the Federal Housing Administration,
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03:37
which in turn created a series of maps
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que, por sua vez,
criou uma série de mapas
03:41
which were using a color-coding system
to determine which neighborhoods
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que usavam um sistema
de codificação por cores
para determinar quais bairros
03:46
should and should not receive
federal housing loans.
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deveriam ou não receber
empréstimos habitacionais do governo.
03:52
Their residential security map
was its own kind of color palette,
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O mapa de segurança residencial
tinha um tipo próprio de paleta de cores
03:56
and in fact was more influential
than all of those color palettes
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que, de fato, era mais influente
do que todas aquelas paletas de cores
04:01
that I had been studying
in college combined.
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que eu havia estudado na faculdade.
04:06
Banks would not lend to people
who lived in neighborhoods like mine.
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Os bancos não davam empréstimos a pessoas
que moravam em bairros como o meu.
04:11
That's me in D86.
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Esta sou eu em D86.
04:14
Their cartographers
were literally coloring in these maps
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Os cartógrafos estavam
colorindo esses mapas
04:18
and labeling that color "hazardous."
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e rotulando aquela cor como "perigosa".
04:23
Red was the new black,
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O vermelho era o novo negro,
04:26
and black neighborhoods were colored.
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e os bairros negros eram "de cor".
04:31
The problem persists today,
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O problema continua até hoje,
04:33
and we've seen it most recently
in the foreclosure crisis.
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e o temos visto mais recentemente
na crise da execução de hipotecas.
04:37
In Chicago, this is best
symbolized by these Xs
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Em Chicago, isso é mais
bem simbolizado por estes X
04:40
that are emblazoned
on the fronts of vacated houses
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decorados nas fachadas das casas vagas
de South Side e West Side.
04:43
on the South and West Side.
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04:47
The reality is that someone else's
color palettes were determining
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A realidade é que as paletas
de cor de alguém
determinavam minha existência
física e artística.
04:52
my physical and artistic existence.
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04:57
Ridiculous.
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Ridículo.
05:00
I decided that I'd create
my own color palette
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Decidi que criaria
minha própria paleta de cores,
05:03
and speak to the people
who live where I do
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falaria com as pessoas
que moram onde eu moro
05:05
and alter the way
that color had been defined for us.
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e mudaria a maneira como a cor
havia sido definida para nós.
05:09
It was a palette that I didn't
have to search far for
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Não precisei procurar muito essa paleta
05:13
and look for in a treatise,
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nem consultar tratados,
05:14
because I already knew it.
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porque eu já a conhecia.
05:17
What kind of painter
emerges from this reality?
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Que tipo de pintor surge dessa realidade?
05:25
What color is urban?
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Qual é a cor urbana?
05:29
What color is ghetto?
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Qual é a cor do gueto?
05:32
What color is privilege?
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Qual é a cor do privilégio?
05:35
What color is gang-related?
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Qual é a cor relacionada às gangues?
05:38
What color is gentrification?
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Qual é a cor da gentrificação?
05:41
What color is Freddie Gray?
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Qual é a cor de Freddie Gray?
05:45
What color is Mike Brown?
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Qual é a cor de Mike Brown?
05:49
Finally, I'd found a way
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Finalmente, encontrei um jeito
05:52
to connect my racialized
understanding of color
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de unir meu entendimento racial da cor
05:56
with my theoretical
understanding of color.
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ao meu entendimento teórico dela.
05:59
And I gave birth to my third baby:
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E dei à luz meu terceiro bebê:
06:02
"Color(ed) Theory."
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"Color(ed) Theory".
06:03
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
06:06
"Color(ed) Theory"
was a two-year artistic project
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"Color(ed) Theory" foi um projeto
artístico de dois anos
06:09
in which I applied my own color palette
to my own neighborhoods
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no qual apliquei minha própria
paleta de cores a meus bairros
06:14
in my own way.
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do meu próprio jeito.
06:18
Now, if I walked down
79th Street right now
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Se eu fosse à 79th Street agora
06:22
and I asked 50 people for the name
of the slightly greener shade of cyan,
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e perguntasse a 50 pessoas
o nome do tom levemente
mais verde do ciano,
06:30
they would look at me sideways.
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elas olhariam para mim de lado.
06:31
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
06:33
But if I say, "What color
is Ultra Sheen?" --
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Mas se eu perguntar:
"Qual é a cor do Ultra Sheen?",
logo surgem sorrisos,
06:36
oh, a smile emerges,
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06:38
stories about their
grandmother's bathroom ensue.
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e seguem-se histórias
sobre o banheiro da avó delas.
06:42
I mean, who needs turquoise
when you have Ultra Sheen?
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Ou seja, quem precisa de azul-turquesa
quando temos o Ultra Sheen?
06:45
Who needs teal when you have Ultra Sheen?
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Quem precisa de verde-azulado
quando temos o Ultra Sheen?
06:49
Who needs ultramarine when you have ...
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Quem precisa de azul-ultramarino
quando temos...
06:53
(Audience) Ultra Sheen.
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o Ultra Sheen.
06:55
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
06:57
This is exactly how I derived my palette.
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Foi exatamente assim
que obtive minha paleta.
07:00
I would ask friends and family
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Eu pedia a amigos, familiares
07:03
and people with backgrounds
that were similar to mine
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e pessoas com origens semelhantes à minha
07:06
for those stories and memories.
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essas histórias e lembranças.
07:08
The stories weren't always happy
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As histórias nem sempre eram felizes,
07:10
but the colors always resonated
more than the product itself.
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mas as cores sempre repercutiam
mais do que o produto em si.
07:16
I took those theories to the street.
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Levei essas teorias para a rua.
07:20
"Ultra Sheen."
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"Ultra Sheen".
07:22
"Pink Oil Moisturizer."
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"Pink Oil Moisturizer".
07:26
If you're from Chicago,
"Harold's Chicken Shack."
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Se você for de Chicago:
"Harold's Chicken Shack".
07:29
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
07:30
"Currency Exchange + Safe Passage."
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"Currency Exchange + Safe Passage".
07:34
"Flamin' Red Hots."
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"Flamin' Red Hots".
07:37
"Loose Squares" ...
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"Loose Squares"...
07:40
and "Crown Royal Bag."
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e "Crown Royal Bag".
07:46
I painted soon-to-be-demolished homes
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Pintei casas em vias de demolição
07:49
in a much-maligned area called Englewood.
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de uma área muito perigosa
chamada Englewood.
07:54
We'd gather up as much paint
as I could fit in my trunk,
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Juntamos tanta tinta quanto cabia
em meu porta-malas,
07:57
I'd call my most trusted art homies,
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chamei meus amigos de arte mais fiéis,
07:59
my amazing husband always by my side,
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meu marido incrível sempre ao meu lado,
08:02
and we'd paint every inch of the exteriors
in monochromatic fashion.
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e pintamos cada centímetro das partes
externas de modo monocromático.
08:08
I wanted to understand scale
in a way that I hadn't before.
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Eu queria perceber a escala
de um modo que não havia percebido,
08:12
I wanted to apply the colors
to the biggest canvas I could imagine ...
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queria aplicar as cores à maior tela
que pudesse imaginar:
08:17
houses.
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casas.
08:18
So I'd obsessively drive up and down
familiar streets that I'd grown up on,
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Eu percorria obsessivamente ruas
conhecidas nas quais eu havia crescido.
08:23
I'd cross-reference these houses
with the city's data portal
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Cruzava referências dessas casas
com o portal de dados da cidade
08:27
to make sure that they'd been
tagged for demolition --
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para me assegurar de que estavam
marcadas para demolição,
08:29
unsalvageable, left for dead.
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sem salvação, entregues ao fim.
08:34
I really wanted to understand
what it meant to just let color rule,
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Eu queria perceber o que significava
deixar que a cor dominasse,
08:39
to trust my instincts,
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confiar em meus instintos,
08:40
to stop asking for permission.
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deixar de pedir autorização.
08:43
No meetings with city officials,
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Nada de reuniões
com funcionários públicos,
08:45
no community buy-in,
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nada de aquisições pela comunidade,
08:47
just let color rule
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deixar apenas a cor dominar
08:50
in my desire to paint
different pictures about the South Side.
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em meu desejo de pintar
imagens diferentes sobre South Side.
09:02
These houses sit in stark contrast
to their fully lined counterparts.
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Essas casas faziam um contraste gritante
com suas equivalentes ao lado.
09:10
We'd paint to make them stand out
like Monopoly pieces
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Nós as pintávamos
para que elas se sobressaíssem
como peças do jogo Monopoly
09:16
in these environments.
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naqueles ambientes.
09:18
And we'd go on these early Sunday mornings
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Íamos aos domingos, de manhã cedo,
09:21
and keep going until we ran out
of that paint or until someone complained.
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e continuávamos até acabar
a tinta ou até alguém se queixar.
09:30
"Hey, did you paint that?"
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"Ei, foram vocês que pintaram aquilo?"
09:33
a driver asked as I was taking
this image one day.
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perguntou um motorista
quando eu estava tirando esta foto.
09:37
Me, nervously:
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E eu, nervosa:
09:39
"Yes?"
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"Sim?"
09:41
His face changed.
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A fisionomia dele mudou.
09:42
"Aw, I thought Prince was coming."
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"Ah, eu achava que o Prince vinha aqui."
09:45
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
09:48
He had grown up on this block,
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Ele havia crescido naquele quarteirão
09:50
and so you could imagine
when he drove past
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e, como podem imaginar,
quando passou por ali
09:52
and saw one of its last remaining houses
mysteriously change colors overnight,
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e viu uma das últimas casas
mudar de cor misteriosamente do nada,
09:57
it was clearly not
a Crown Royal bag involved,
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claro que não tinha nada a ver
com uma garrafa de Crown Royal.
10:00
it was a secret beacon from Prince.
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Devia ser um sinal secreto do Prince.
10:03
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
10:07
And though that block
was almost all but erased,
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Embora aquele quarteirão
estivesse quase todo arrasado,
10:12
it was the idea that Prince
could pop up in unexpected places
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havia a ideia de que o Prince
pudesse surgir em locais inesperados
10:18
and give free concerts in areas
that the music industry and society
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e fazer shows gratuitos em áreas
que a sociedade e a indústria musical
10:22
had deemed were not valuable anymore.
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haviam considerado sem mais valor.
10:26
For him,
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Para ele,
10:29
the idea that just the image of this house
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a ideia de que só a imagem daquela casa
10:33
was enough to bring Prince there
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era o bastante para levar o Prince pra lá
10:36
meant that it was possible.
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significava que isso era possível.
10:38
In that moment,
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Naquele momento,
10:40
that little patch of Eggleston
had become synonymous with royalty.
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4160
aquele pedacinho de Eggleston
havia se tornado sinônimo de realeza.
10:45
And for however briefly,
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E, mesmo que brevemente,
10:47
Eric Bennett's neighborhood
had regained its value.
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2840
o bairro de Eric Bennett
havia reconquistado seu valor.
Então, trocamos histórias,
apesar de sermos estranhos,
10:52
So we traded stories
despite being strangers
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2416
10:54
about which high school we'd gone to
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2496
sobre em que escola secundária
nós havíamos estudado
10:57
and where we'd grown up,
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1736
e onde havíamos crescido,
10:59
and Mrs. So-and-so's candy store --
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2416
sobre a confeitaria de fulano,
11:01
of being kids on the South Side.
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3056
sobre quando éramos
crianças em South Side,
11:04
And once I revealed
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Depois que revelei que, de fato,
11:05
that in fact this project had
absolutely nothing to do with Prince,
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3176
esse projeto não tinha
nada a ver com o Prince,
Eric balançou a cabeça,
parecendo concordar,
11:09
Eric nodded in seeming agreement,
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2176
11:11
and as we parted ways and he drove off,
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2896
e, quando nos separamos
e ele foi embora, disse:
11:14
he said, "But he could still come!"
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2736
"Mas ele ainda poderia vir!"
11:16
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
11:19
He had assumed
full ownership of this project
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4576
Ele havia assumido
posse total desse projeto
11:23
and was not willing to relinquish it,
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1816
e não estava disposto a cedê-lo,
nem mesmo para mim, a autora.
11:25
even to me, its author.
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1920
11:28
That, for me, was success.
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2080
Isso, para mim, era sucesso.
11:32
I wish I could tell you that this project
transformed the neighborhood
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5096
Quem me dera se eu pudesse dizer
que esse projeto transformou o bairro
11:37
and all the indices
that we like to rely on:
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2896
e todos os índices
que gostamos de confiar:
11:40
increased jobs,
reduced crime, no alcoholism --
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5256
mais empregos, menos crimes,
sem alcoolismo,
11:46
but in fact it's more gray than that.
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mas, de fato, o cenário é mais sombrio.
11:49
"Color(ed) Theory"
catalyzed new conversations
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3016
"Color(ed) Theory"
incentivou novas conversas
11:52
about the value of blackness.
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1840
sobre o valor da negritude.
11:56
"Color(ed) Theory" made unmistakably
visible the uncomfortable questions
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"Color(ed) Theory" tornou visível,
de maneira inconfundível,
as perguntas desconfortáveis
12:02
that institutions and governments
have to ask themselves
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2936
que as instituições e os governos
têm de fazer a si mesmos
12:05
about why they do what they do.
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1960
sobre por que fazem o que fazem.
12:08
They ask equally difficult questions
of myself and my neighborhood counterparts
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5536
Fazem igualmente perguntas difíceis
sobre mim mesma e meus vizinhos,
12:13
about our value systems
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2176
sobre nossos sistemas de valores
12:16
and what our path
to collective agency needs to be.
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2920
e qual deve ser nosso caminho
para uma ação coletiva.
12:21
Color gave me freedom in a way
that didn't wait for permission
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4696
A cor me deu liberdade de uma forma
que não esperou autorização,
12:25
or affirmation or inclusion.
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2520
afirmação, nem inclusão.
12:29
Color was something that I could rule now.
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4080
A cor era algo que eu
poderia dominar agora.
12:34
One of the neighborhood members
and paint crew members said it best
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4216
Um dos membros do bairro
e da equipe de pintura disse melhor:
12:38
when he said, "This didn't
change the neighborhood,
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2936
"Isto não mudou o bairro,
mas a percepção das pessoas
12:41
it changed people's perceptions about
what's possible for their neighborhood,"
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3696
sobre o que é possível
para o bairro delas",
de maneiras grandes e pequenas.
12:45
in big and small ways.
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1240
12:47
Passersby would ask me,
"Why are you painting that house
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2656
Quem passava me perguntava:
"Por que estão pintando aquela casa
se sabem que a cidade vai derrubá-la?"
12:50
when you know the city's just going
to come and tear it down?"
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2936
Na época, eu não fazia ideia.
12:53
At the time, I had no idea,
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2416
12:55
I just knew that I had to do something.
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2776
Só sabia que tinha de fazer alguma coisa.
12:58
I would give anything to better
understand color as both a medium
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5256
Eu daria tudo para entender melhor a cor
como um meio
13:03
and as an inescapable way
that I am identified in society.
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4160
e uma maneira inevitável
que sou identificada na sociedade.
13:08
If I have any hope
of making the world better,
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3456
Se tenho qualquer esperança
de tornar o mundo melhor,
13:12
I have to love and leverage
both of these ways that I'm understood,
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5016
tenho que amar e melhorar
essas formas de ser entendida,
13:17
and therein lies the value and the hue.
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e nisso reside o valor e o tom.
13:21
Thank you.
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Obrigada.
13:22
(Applause and cheers)
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(Aplausos)
Translated by Maurício Kakuei Tanaka
Reviewed by Maricene Crus

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Amanda Williams - Visual artist
Amanda Williams blurs the distinction between art and architecture through works that employ color as a way to draw attention to the political complexities of race, place and value in cities.

Why you should listen

The landscapes in which Amanda Williams operates are the visual residue of the invisible policies and forces that have misshapen most inner cities. Her installations, paintings, video and works on paper seek to inspire new ways of looking at the familiar -- and raise questions about the state of urban space in America in the process.

Williams has exhibited widely, including the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale, a solo exhibition at the MCA Chicago, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Pulitzer Arts Foundation in St. Louis. She is a 2018 United States Artists Fellow, a Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters & Sculptors grantee, an Efroymson Family Arts Fellow, a Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow and a member of the multidisciplinary Museum Design team for the Obama Presidential Center. She is this year's Bill and Stephanie Sick Distinguished Visiting Professor at the School of the Art Institute Chicago and has previously served as a visiting assistant professor of architecture at Cornell University and Washington University in St. Louis. She lives and works on Chicago's south side.

More profile about the speaker
Amanda Williams | Speaker | TED.com

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