Courtesy of Spelman University
Spelman College Museum of Fine Art presents We Say What Black This Is, an exhibition showcasing mixed media and watercolor paintings by MacArthur award-winning artist Amanda Williams. The new exhibit opens February 7, 2025, and will be on view through May 24, 2025.
We Say What Black This Is challenges reductive definitions of Blackness, instead celebrating its diversity, resilience and depth. The exhibition features works from Williams’ series What Black is this, You Say?, created in response to the ‘Blackout Tuesday’ social media moment in 2020. The exhibit will include a new abstract painting by Williams and student-written didactic labels. Each piece explores cultural, social and political dimensions of Black identity, particularly how Black spaces are formed, defined and erased.
Curated by Curator in Residence Karen Comer Lowe, We Say What Black This Is will explore the richness of Williams’ abstract paintings, featuring contributions from Spelman College students and the students from the AUC Art Collective in Atlanta.
At the core of We Say What Black This Is is a collaboration of students from Spelman College, Morehouse College and Clark Atlanta University. The students, who participated in a course on Williams’ work in Spring 2024, helped develop thematic frameworks and engaged with the artist’s studio practice. Their unique and fresh perspectives added an innovative and creative touch to the exhibition. The class was taught by Spelman’s Inaugural Director of Arts and Visual Culture Dr. Cheryl Finley, and Dr. Lowe.
The Spelman College Museum of Fine Art will also show a recently acquired painting by Williams. This key work, What black is this you say?—”El Español es tu lengua materna pero estás orgullosa de tus raíces Africanas.”—black,” is an abstract painting that will be shown publicly for the first time. It encapsulates the intersection of African and Latinx identities, emphasizing the complexity of Blackness.
The exhibition showcases Williams’ abstract paintings alongside works by prominent artists from Atlanta collections, including Beverly Buchanan, Deborah Roberts, Sheila Pree Bright, and Ming Washington, among others. This presentation provides diverse perspectives of Black identity. Through Williams’s mastery of space, color, and language—and in dialogue with both historic and contemporary African American artists—the exhibition invites viewers to reflect on the multifaceted nature of Blackness in America.