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

Filmed:
307,070 views

Amanda Williams shares her lifelong fascination with the complexity of color: from her experiences with race and redlining to her discovery of color theory to her work as a visual artist. Journey with Williams to Chicago's South Side and explore "Color(ed) Theory," a two-year art project in which she painted soon-to-be-demolished houses bold, monochromatic colors infused with local meaning -- catalyzing conversations and making the hidden visible.
- 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.
0
1160
3816
00:17
I notice it everywhere and in everything.
1
5000
3080
00:21
My family makes fun of me
2
9680
1816
00:23
because I like to use colors
with elusive-sounding names,
3
11520
3496
00:27
like celadon ...
4
15040
2136
00:29
(Laughter)
5
17200
1336
00:30
ecru ...
6
18560
1200
00:33
carmine.
7
21080
1200
00:36
Now, if you haven't noticed,
I am black, thank you --
8
24200
3856
00:40
(Laughter)
9
28080
1016
00:41
and when you grow up
in a segregated city as I have,
10
29120
2456
00:43
like Chicago,
11
31600
1216
00:44
you're conditioned to believe
that color and race can never be separate.
12
32840
4640
00:51
There's hardly a day that goes by
13
39040
2696
00:53
that somebody is not
reminding you of your color.
14
41760
3720
00:58
Racism is my city's vivid hue.
15
46880
3080
01:03
Now, we can all agree that race
is a socially constructed phenomenon,
16
51760
5336
01:09
but it's often hard to see it
in our everyday existence.
17
57120
3376
01:12
Its pervasiveness is everywhere.
18
60520
2976
01:15
The neighborhoods I grew up in
19
63520
1896
01:17
were filled with a kind of
culturally coded beauty.
20
65440
2976
01:20
Major commercial corridors were lined
with brightly painted storefronts
21
68440
4696
01:25
that competed for black consumer dollars.
22
73160
2576
01:27
The visual mash-ups of corner stores
and beauty supply houses,
23
75760
4456
01:32
currency exchanges,
24
80240
1816
01:34
are where I actually, inadvertently
learned the foundational principles
25
82080
4096
01:38
of something I would later
come to know is called color theory.
26
86200
4000
01:44
I can remember being pretty intimidated
by this term in college --
27
92520
3696
01:48
color theory.
28
96240
1576
01:49
All these stuffy old white guys
with their treatises
29
97840
2856
01:52
and obscure terminologies.
30
100720
3536
01:56
I'd mastered each one of their
color palettes and associated principles.
31
104280
4200
02:02
Color theory essentially boils down
to the art and science
32
110840
3816
02:06
of using color to form
compositions and spaces.
33
114680
4736
02:11
It's not so complicated.
34
119440
1200
02:15
This was my bible in college.
35
123480
3120
02:19
Josef Albers posited a theory
about the color red,
36
127400
5336
02:24
and it always has stuck with me.
37
132760
2576
02:27
He argues that the iconic
color of a cola can is red,
38
135360
6176
02:33
and that in fact
all of us can agree that it's red
39
141560
2856
02:36
but the kinds of reds that we imagine
40
144440
2496
02:38
are as varied as the number
of people in this room.
41
146960
3480
02:43
So imagine that.
42
151640
1256
02:44
This color that we've all been
taught since kindergarten is primary --
43
152920
3976
02:48
red, yellow, blue --
44
156920
1576
02:50
in fact is not primary,
45
158520
2376
02:52
is not irreducible,
46
160920
1776
02:54
is not objective but quite subjective.
47
162720
3960
02:59
What?
48
167480
1216
03:00
(Laughter)
49
168720
1616
03:02
Albers called this "relational."
50
170360
2520
03:06
Relational.
51
174600
1200
03:08
And so it was the first time
52
176520
1376
03:09
that I was able to see my own neighborhood
as a relational context.
53
177920
5280
03:16
Each color is affected by its neighbor.
54
184280
3920
03:21
Each other is affected by its neighbor.
55
189560
3920
03:29
In the 1930s,
56
197880
2496
03:32
the United States government created
57
200400
3016
03:35
the Federal Housing Administration,
58
203440
2216
03:37
which in turn created a series of maps
59
205680
2280
03:41
which were using a color-coding system
to determine which neighborhoods
60
209000
4976
03:46
should and should not receive
federal housing loans.
61
214000
3680
03:52
Their residential security map
was its own kind of color palette,
62
220320
4456
03:56
and in fact was more influential
than all of those color palettes
63
224800
4576
04:01
that I had been studying
in college combined.
64
229400
2120
04:06
Banks would not lend to people
who lived in neighborhoods like mine.
65
234360
5096
04:11
That's me in D86.
66
239480
1720
04:14
Their cartographers
were literally coloring in these maps
67
242360
4336
04:18
and labeling that color "hazardous."
68
246720
2600
04:23
Red was the new black,
69
251200
2896
04:26
and black neighborhoods were colored.
70
254120
2399
04:31
The problem persists today,
71
259959
1457
04:33
and we've seen it most recently
in the foreclosure crisis.
72
261440
2720
04:37
In Chicago, this is best
symbolized by these Xs
73
265400
3496
04:40
that are emblazoned
on the fronts of vacated houses
74
268920
3016
04:43
on the South and West Side.
75
271960
1560
04:47
The reality is that someone else's
color palettes were determining
76
275640
4936
04:52
my physical and artistic existence.
77
280600
3840
04:57
Ridiculous.
78
285960
1200
05:00
I decided that I'd create
my own color palette
79
288200
3016
05:03
and speak to the people
who live where I do
80
291240
2616
05:05
and alter the way
that color had been defined for us.
81
293880
3120
05:09
It was a palette that I didn't
have to search far for
82
297880
3216
05:13
and look for in a treatise,
83
301120
1416
05:14
because I already knew it.
84
302560
1280
05:17
What kind of painter
emerges from this reality?
85
305920
4080
05:25
What color is urban?
86
313840
1240
05:29
What color is ghetto?
87
317080
1360
05:32
What color is privilege?
88
320080
1520
05:35
What color is gang-related?
89
323160
1760
05:38
What color is gentrification?
90
326280
1760
05:41
What color is Freddie Gray?
91
329560
1920
05:45
What color is Mike Brown?
92
333880
1920
05:49
Finally, I'd found a way
93
337960
2896
05:52
to connect my racialized
understanding of color
94
340880
3096
05:56
with my theoretical
understanding of color.
95
344000
2120
05:59
And I gave birth to my third baby:
96
347280
2776
06:02
"Color(ed) Theory."
97
350080
1536
06:03
(Laughter)
98
351640
1760
06:06
"Color(ed) Theory"
was a two-year artistic project
99
354280
2936
06:09
in which I applied my own color palette
to my own neighborhoods
100
357240
4776
06:14
in my own way.
101
362040
1520
06:18
Now, if I walked down
79th Street right now
102
366760
3376
06:22
and I asked 50 people for the name
of the slightly greener shade of cyan,
103
370160
6600
06:30
they would look at me sideways.
104
378120
1816
06:31
(Laughter)
105
379960
1016
06:33
But if I say, "What color
is Ultra Sheen?" --
106
381000
3176
06:36
oh, a smile emerges,
107
384200
1936
06:38
stories about their
grandmother's bathroom ensue.
108
386160
3120
06:42
I mean, who needs turquoise
when you have Ultra Sheen?
109
390080
3616
06:45
Who needs teal when you have Ultra Sheen?
110
393720
3576
06:49
Who needs ultramarine when you have ...
111
397320
3976
06:53
(Audience) Ultra Sheen.
112
401320
2056
06:55
(Laughter)
113
403400
1656
06:57
This is exactly how I derived my palette.
114
405080
2760
07:00
I would ask friends and family
115
408600
3296
07:03
and people with backgrounds
that were similar to mine
116
411920
2656
07:06
for those stories and memories.
117
414600
1936
07:08
The stories weren't always happy
118
416560
2216
07:10
but the colors always resonated
more than the product itself.
119
418800
3600
07:16
I took those theories to the street.
120
424080
2440
07:20
"Ultra Sheen."
121
428560
1856
07:22
"Pink Oil Moisturizer."
122
430440
2040
07:26
If you're from Chicago,
"Harold's Chicken Shack."
123
434200
2856
07:29
(Laughter)
124
437080
1536
07:30
"Currency Exchange + Safe Passage."
125
438640
3080
07:34
"Flamin' Red Hots."
126
442760
1520
07:37
"Loose Squares" ...
127
445720
1560
07:40
and "Crown Royal Bag."
128
448840
1600
07:46
I painted soon-to-be-demolished homes
129
454760
2456
07:49
in a much-maligned area called Englewood.
130
457240
2960
07:54
We'd gather up as much paint
as I could fit in my trunk,
131
462080
3216
07:57
I'd call my most trusted art homies,
132
465320
2456
07:59
my amazing husband always by my side,
133
467800
2976
08:02
and we'd paint every inch of the exteriors
in monochromatic fashion.
134
470800
4320
08:08
I wanted to understand scale
in a way that I hadn't before.
135
476160
4096
08:12
I wanted to apply the colors
to the biggest canvas I could imagine ...
136
480280
4776
08:17
houses.
137
485080
1336
08:18
So I'd obsessively drive up and down
familiar streets that I'd grown up on,
138
486440
5016
08:23
I'd cross-reference these houses
with the city's data portal
139
491480
3696
08:27
to make sure that they'd been
tagged for demolition --
140
495200
2696
08:29
unsalvageable, left for dead.
141
497920
2480
08:34
I really wanted to understand
what it meant to just let color rule,
142
502520
4696
08:39
to trust my instincts,
143
507240
1696
08:40
to stop asking for permission.
144
508960
2016
08:43
No meetings with city officials,
145
511000
2416
08:45
no community buy-in,
146
513440
1976
08:47
just let color rule
147
515440
3056
08:50
in my desire to paint
different pictures about the South Side.
148
518520
4279
09:02
These houses sit in stark contrast
to their fully lined counterparts.
149
530200
6040
09:10
We'd paint to make them stand out
like Monopoly pieces
150
538440
5536
09:16
in these environments.
151
544000
1280
09:18
And we'd go on these early Sunday mornings
152
546320
2776
09:21
and keep going until we ran out
of that paint or until someone complained.
153
549120
4800
09:30
"Hey, did you paint that?"
154
558520
2080
09:33
a driver asked as I was taking
this image one day.
155
561880
3360
09:37
Me, nervously:
156
565960
1456
09:39
"Yes?"
157
567440
1200
09:41
His face changed.
158
569200
1576
09:42
"Aw, I thought Prince was coming."
159
570800
2736
09:45
(Laughter)
160
573560
3136
09:48
He had grown up on this block,
161
576720
1936
09:50
and so you could imagine
when he drove past
162
578680
2056
09:52
and saw one of its last remaining houses
mysteriously change colors overnight,
163
580760
4896
09:57
it was clearly not
a Crown Royal bag involved,
164
585680
3056
10:00
it was a secret beacon from Prince.
165
588760
2616
10:03
(Laughter)
166
591400
1840
10:07
And though that block
was almost all but erased,
167
595320
4776
10:12
it was the idea that Prince
could pop up in unexpected places
168
600120
5976
10:18
and give free concerts in areas
that the music industry and society
169
606120
4176
10:22
had deemed were not valuable anymore.
170
610320
2720
10:26
For him,
171
614360
1200
10:29
the idea that just the image of this house
172
617440
4136
10:33
was enough to bring Prince there
173
621600
3176
10:36
meant that it was possible.
174
624800
1936
10:38
In that moment,
175
626760
1736
10:40
that little patch of Eggleston
had become synonymous with royalty.
176
628520
4160
10:45
And for however briefly,
177
633480
1976
10:47
Eric Bennett's neighborhood
had regained its value.
178
635480
2840
10:52
So we traded stories
despite being strangers
179
640320
2416
10:54
about which high school we'd gone to
180
642760
2496
10:57
and where we'd grown up,
181
645280
1736
10:59
and Mrs. So-and-so's candy store --
182
647040
2416
11:01
of being kids on the South Side.
183
649480
3056
11:04
And once I revealed
184
652560
1256
11:05
that in fact this project had
absolutely nothing to do with Prince,
185
653840
3176
11:09
Eric nodded in seeming agreement,
186
657040
2176
11:11
and as we parted ways and he drove off,
187
659240
2896
11:14
he said, "But he could still come!"
188
662160
2736
11:16
(Laughter)
189
664920
2136
11:19
He had assumed
full ownership of this project
190
667080
4576
11:23
and was not willing to relinquish it,
191
671680
1816
11:25
even to me, its author.
192
673520
1920
11:28
That, for me, was success.
193
676160
2080
11:32
I wish I could tell you that this project
transformed the neighborhood
194
680720
5096
11:37
and all the indices
that we like to rely on:
195
685840
2896
11:40
increased jobs,
reduced crime, no alcoholism --
196
688760
5256
11:46
but in fact it's more gray than that.
197
694040
2280
11:49
"Color(ed) Theory"
catalyzed new conversations
198
697200
3016
11:52
about the value of blackness.
199
700240
1840
11:56
"Color(ed) Theory" made unmistakably
visible the uncomfortable questions
200
704000
6336
12:02
that institutions and governments
have to ask themselves
201
710360
2936
12:05
about why they do what they do.
202
713320
1960
12:08
They ask equally difficult questions
of myself and my neighborhood counterparts
203
716360
5536
12:13
about our value systems
204
721920
2176
12:16
and what our path
to collective agency needs to be.
205
724120
2920
12:21
Color gave me freedom in a way
that didn't wait for permission
206
729120
4696
12:25
or affirmation or inclusion.
207
733840
2520
12:29
Color was something that I could rule now.
208
737440
4080
12:34
One of the neighborhood members
and paint crew members said it best
209
742240
4216
12:38
when he said, "This didn't
change the neighborhood,
210
746480
2936
12:41
it changed people's perceptions about
what's possible for their neighborhood,"
211
749440
3696
12:45
in big and small ways.
212
753160
1240
12:47
Passersby would ask me,
"Why are you painting that house
213
755520
2656
12:50
when you know the city's just going
to come and tear it down?"
214
758200
2936
12:53
At the time, I had no idea,
215
761160
2416
12:55
I just knew that I had to do something.
216
763600
2776
12:58
I would give anything to better
understand color as both a medium
217
766400
5256
13:03
and as an inescapable way
that I am identified in society.
218
771680
4160
13:08
If I have any hope
of making the world better,
219
776720
3456
13:12
I have to love and leverage
both of these ways that I'm understood,
220
780200
5016
13:17
and therein lies the value and the hue.
221
785240
3080
13:21
Thank you.
222
789120
1216
13:22
(Applause and cheers)
223
790360
3840

▲Back to top

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

Data provided by TED.

This site was created in May 2015 and the last update was on January 12, 2020. It will no longer be updated.

We are currently creating a new site called "eng.lish.video" and would be grateful if you could access it.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to write comments in your language on the contact form.

Privacy Policy

Developer's Blog

Buy Me A Coffee