Amanda Williams: Why I turned Chicago's abandoned homes into art
Amanda Williams: Porque é que transformei as casas abandonadas de Chicago em 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.
e em todas as coisas.
with elusive-sounding names,
com nomes indescritíveis,
I am black, thank you --
sou negra, obrigada.
in a segregated city as I have,
numa cidade segregada,
that color and race can never be separate.
nunca se podem separar.
reminding you of your color.
não nos lembre da nossa cor.
da minha cidade
is a socially constructed phenomenon,
é um fenómeno criado socialmente
in our everyday existence.
na nossa existência quotidiana.
culturally coded beauty.
culturalmente codificada.
with brightly painted storefronts
tinham fachadas de cores vivas
dos clientes negros.
and beauty supply houses,
e os bonitos armazéns,
learned the foundational principles
aprendi os princípios fundamentais
come to know is called color theory.
vim a saber que se chama a teoria da cor.
by this term in college --
na faculdade, por esta expressão
with their treatises
e terminologias obscuras.
color palettes and associated principles.
daquelas paletas de cores
to the art and science
essencialmente, à arte e à ciência
compositions and spaces.
composições e espaços.
about the color red,
sobre a cor vermelha
color of a cola can is red,
duma lata de Cola é o vermelho
all of us can agree that it's red
concordamos que é o vermelho
que imaginamos
of people in this room.
o número de pessoas nesta sala.
taught since kindergarten is primary --
ensinaram no pré-escolar, é primária
as a relational context.
pela cor sua vizinha.
uma série de mapas
to determine which neighborhoods
de codificação por cores
federal housing loans.
empréstimos federais para habitação.
was its own kind of color palette,
era um tipo de paleta de cores,
than all of those color palettes
do que todas as paletas de cores
in college combined.
who lived in neighborhoods like mine.
que viviam em bairros como o meu.
were literally coloring in these maps
a colorir estes mapas
in the foreclosure crisis.
na crise das penhoras.
symbolized by these Xs
simbolizado com estes X
on the fronts of vacated houses
das casas vagas
color palettes were determining
de não sei quem estavam a determinar
my own color palette
a minha paleta de cores
who live where I do
que vivem onde eu vivo
that color had been defined for us.
tinha sido definida para nós.
have to search far for
para essa paleta
emerges from this reality?
understanding of color
racial da cor
understanding of color.
was a two-year artistic project
artístico de dois anos
to my own neighborhoods
de cores aos meus bairros,
79th Street right now
of the slightly greener shade of cyan,
mais verde do azul turquesa,
is Ultra Sheen?" --
"De que cor é o Ultra Sheen?"
grandmother's bathroom ensue.
da casa de banho das avós.
when you have Ultra Sheen?
se temos Ultra Sheen?
se temos Ultra Sheen?
que eu constituí a minha paleta.
that were similar to mine
semelhantes à minha
more than the product itself.
melhor do que o produto.
"Harold's Chicken Shack."
vermelhão "Frango Frito do Harold".
chamada Englewood.
as I could fit in my trunk,
quanto podíamos enfiar na minha carrinha,
sempre ao meu lado,
in monochromatic fashion.
de modo monocromático.
in a way that I hadn't before.
de um modo que não tinha percebido,
to the biggest canvas I could imagine ...
que podia imaginar.
familiar streets that I'd grown up on,
familiares onde eu tinha crescido.
with the city's data portal
com o portal de dados da cidade
tagged for demolition --
destinadas a demolição,
what it meant to just let color rule,
deixar que a cor dominasse,
different pictures about the South Side.
imagens diferentes para o South Side.
to their fully lined counterparts.
com as suas homólogas ao lado.
like Monopoly pieces
como peças do Monopólio
de manhã cedo
of that paint or until someone complained.
sem tinta ou até alguém se queixar.
this image one day.
quando eu estava a tirar esta foto.
when he drove past
quando ele por ali passou,
mysteriously change colors overnight,
durante a noite
a Crown Royal bag involved,
nenhuma garrafa de "whiskey".
was almost all but erased,
estivesse quase todo arrasado,
could pop up in unexpected places
pudesse surgir em locais inesperados
that the music industry and society
que a indústria musical e a sociedade
que já não tinham interesse.
had become synonymous with royalty.
tinha-se tornado sinónimo de realeza.
had regained its value.
tinha reconquistado o seu valor.
despite being strangers
apesar de sermos estranhos,
absolutely nothing to do with Prince,
nada a ver com o Prince,
e ele seguiu caminho, disse:
full ownership of this project
transformed the neighborhood
que este projeto transformou o bairro
that we like to rely on:
em que gostamos de nos apoiar:
reduced crime, no alcoholism --
fim do alcoolismo —
é mais sombrio.
catalyzed new conversations
catalisou novas conversas
visible the uncomfortable questions
de forma inconfundível,
have to ask themselves
têm de fazer a si mesmos
of myself and my neighborhood counterparts
sobre mim mesma e os meus vizinhos,
to collective agency needs to be.
para uma ação coletiva.
that didn't wait for permission
que não precisou de esperar autorização
que eu podia dominar.
and paint crew members said it best
e da equipa de pintura disse-o melhor:
change the neighborhood,
what's possible for their neighborhood,"
quanto ao que é possível para o bairro".
"Why are you painting that house
"Porque é que estão a pintar aquela casa
to come and tear it down?"
vai deitá-la abaixo?"
qualquer coisa.
understand color as both a medium
melhor a cor, enquanto um meio
de que eu me identificava na sociedade.
that I am identified in society.
of making the world better,
de tornar o mundo melhor,
both of these ways that I'm understood,
estas formas de ser entendida,
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