What Black Is This You Say?

An illustrated anthology of texts on artist Amanda Williams, edited in collaboration with Camille Bacon.

What Black Is This You Say?, by Amanda Williams, convenes a broad set of contributors to respond to her own eponymous public artwork at Storefront for Art and Architecture in New York City (2021-2023). In this collection, the 17 colors and captions that appeared on the facade of Storefront--the project began as a series of Instagram posts of different hues of black, paired with witty and incisive comments on the multiplicity of Black culture--are expounded upon in poems, essays, and prose. With this anthology, Williams deliberately departs from traditional art criticism by gathering an intimate ensemble of her peers, friends, and collaborators, including Roxane Gay, Corinne Bailey Rae, and J Wortham, to comment on her work.

What Black Is This You Say? is the first title in a new series titled Groundworks, produced in conjunction with Storefront for Art and Architecture. Storefront, founded in 1982, is known for its commitment to challenging and reframing the relationship between public and private space. In 1993, the gallery commissioned a project by the artist Vito Acconci and architect Steven Holl that replaced the exterior façade with a series of 12 movable panels that open the entire length of the gallery to the street, enabling endless possibilities of entry, navigation, and absorption into the gallery space.

Amanda Williams is an American visual artist who trained as an architect. Her practice uses color to foreground the complexities of race, place, and value in cities. Her works are in several collections including MoMA and the Art Institute of Chicago. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including a MacArthur Foundation fellowship.