Amanda Williams: Why I turned Chicago's abandoned homes into art
Amanda Williams: Por qué convertí los hogares abandonados de Chicago en arte
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.
con nombres extraños
with elusive-sounding names,
soy negra, gracias...
I am black, thank you --
como hice yo, Chicago,
in a segregated city as I have,
que color y raza nunca se pueden separar.
that color and race can never be separate.
reminding you of your color.
la raza es una construcción social,
is a socially constructed phenomenon,
verlo en el día a día.
in our everyday existence.
culturalmente codificada.
culturally coded beauty.
with brightly painted storefronts
estaban pintadas con colores vivos
y tiendas de belleza,
and beauty supply houses,
learned the foundational principles
aprendí los principios fundamentales
come to know is called color theory.
que se llama teoría del color.
by this term in college --
por este término en la universidad;
con sus tratados y terminología extraña.
with their treatises
de colores y principios asociados.
color palettes and associated principles.
se reduce al arte y la ciencia
to the art and science
compositions and spaces.
composiciones y espacios.
sobre el color rojo
about the color red,
color of a cola can is red,
de una lata de cola es rojo
estar de acuerdo en que es rojo,
all of us can agree that it's red
de personas en esta sala.
of people in this room.
taught since kindergarten is primary --
desde el parvulario, que es primario,
no es irreducible,
pude ver mi propio barrio
as a relational context.
la Federal Housing Administration,
to determine which neighborhoods
de color para determinar qué barrios
de vivienda y cuáles no.
federal housing loans.
era su propio tipo de paleta de colores
was its own kind of color palette,
than all of those color palettes
que estudié en la universidad.
in college combined.
who lived in neighborhoods like mine.
que vivía en barrios como el mío.
coloreaban estos mapas
were literally coloring in these maps
como "peligroso".
in the foreclosure crisis.
en la crisis de ejecución hipotecaria.
symbolized by these Xs
son estas X, que están estampadas
on the fronts of vacated houses
al sur y al oeste.
color palettes were determining
de colores ajenas determinaban
my own color palette
mi propia paleta de colores,
who live where I do
que vive donde vivo yo
nos definieron los colores.
that color had been defined for us.
que buscar muy lejos
have to search far for
emerges from this reality?
emerge de esta realidad?
understanding of color
understanding of color.
was a two-year artistic project
un proyecto artístico de dos años,
de colores a mis propios barrios
to my own neighborhoods
por la calle 79 en este momento
79th Street right now
de un tono de cian algo más verde,
of the slightly greener shade of cyan,
es Ultra Sheen?"
is Ultra Sheen?" --
grandmother's bathroom ensue.
del cuarto de baño de su abuela.
el turquesa teniendo Ultra Sheen?
when you have Ultra Sheen?
el verde azulado teniendo Ultra Sheen?
el ultramarino teniendo...
a personas con un origen similar al mío,
that were similar to mine
más que el producto en sí.
more than the product itself.
"Harold's Chicken Shack".
"Harold's Chicken Shack."
as I could fit in my trunk,
como pude meter en el maletero.
de más confianza,
de manera monocromática.
in monochromatic fashion.
como no lo había hecho nunca.
in a way that I hadn't before.
más grandes que pudiese imaginar,
to the biggest canvas I could imagine ...
familiar streets that I'd grown up on,
conocidas y en las que me crié,
de la ciudad para asegurarme
with the city's data portal
tagged for demolition --
y las dieron por muertas.
lo que significaba que dominase el color,
what it meant to just let color rule,
dejar de pedir permiso.
con autoridades municipales,
una imagen diferente de South Side.
different pictures about the South Side.
con sus homólogas alineadas.
to their fully lined counterparts.
como las piezas del Monopoly
like Monopoly pieces
o hasta que alguien se quejaba.
of that paint or until someone complained.
mientras yo sacaba esta foto.
this image one day.
when he drove past
mysteriously change colors overnight,
cambió de color de un día para otro.
de una bolsa de Crown Royal,
a Crown Royal bag involved,
was almost all but erased,
de todo menos desaparecida,
en lugares inesperados
could pop up in unexpected places
donde la industria musical y la sociedad
that the music industry and society
se convirtió en sinónimo de realeza.
had become synonymous with royalty.
recuperó su valor.
had regained its value.
historias del instituto al que fuimos
despite being strangers
del quiosco de fulano y mengano,
no tenía nada que ver con Prince,
absolutely nothing to do with Prince,
plenamente de este proyecto
full ownership of this project
ni siquiera a mí, su autora.
este proyecto transformó el barrio
transformed the neighborhood
los que nos gusta contar:
that we like to rely on:
cero alcoholismo...
reduced crime, no alcoholism --
catalyzed new conversations
catalizó nuevas conversaciones
visible the uncomfortable questions
visible las cuestiones incómodas
have to ask themselves
deben preguntarse
sobre mí y mis colegas del barrio
of myself and my neighborhood counterparts
hacia la acción colectiva.
to collective agency needs to be.
that didn't wait for permission
que no esperé ningún permiso,
y miembro del equipo de pintura
and paint crew members said it best
"Esto no cambió el barrio,
change the neighborhood,
what's possible for their neighborhood,"
sobre las posibilidades del barrio",
"Why are you painting that house
el ayuntamiento vendrá a demolerla?"
to come and tear it down?"
el color, como un medio
understand color as both a medium
de identificarme en la sociedad.
that I am identified in society.
de mejorar el mundo,
of making the world better,
estas dos formas de entender,
both of these ways that I'm understood,
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Amanda Williams - Visual artistAmanda 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.
Amanda Williams | Speaker | TED.com