<I>Color(ed) Theory: Currency Exchange, Safe Passage</I>
date: label: Date
content: 2014-2016; printed 2020
name: label: Photograph by
content: Amanda Williams, American, born 1974
notes: label: Caption
content: Statement from the artist:
label: Caption
content: “From 2014-2015 Amanda Williams created a contemporary art project called Color(ed) Theory. Amanda covertly and without permission, painted empty houses in and around Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood that were slated for demolition. She developed a unique, culturally coded, monochromatic color palette based on hues found in primarily in consumer products marketed toward Black people along commercial corridors on Chicago’s South Side. The project emphasized how colors have socially constructed associations that are inextricably linked to race and class. The series explored how academic and theoretical definitions of color map across veiled language used in American media/popular culture to describe racially charged city spaces. What color is urban? What color is gentrification? What color is privilege? Williams then photographed each house, calling attention to the architectural details as well as their isolated context.”
label: Description
content: A digital print color photograph of two clapboard houses painted a bright, golden yellow. The houses are situated side by side on a city street. Both houses are one and a half stories with peaked gable roofs. The house on the left is slightly smaller. It has the door on the left side, with a small wooden, uncovered porch in front and a small set of wooden stairs running to street level. There is a boarded up, originally two-paned window to the right of the first floor, a single small, empty window in the center of the second floor. The brown roof trim is the only element of the house that has not been painted yellow. The house to the right is larger and set higher off the ground with a covered, wooden front porch spanning the full width of the front. The boarded up front door is to the left, with a large, boarded up bay window to the right. Unpainted plywood covers the single window in the center of the second floor. The white trim of the house's roof and the grey shingled porch roof have also been left unpainted. The yellow paint doesn't quite extend to the edges of the second floor, leaving the original white showing along the roof and window. Both houses have trimmed grass and a sidewalk in front running parallel to the street. To the left, is one side of a two story white house and to the right is an alleyway. On the otherside of the alley, a white painted fence surrounds a lot with several large parked trailers. On the verso in graphite is the photographer's signature and inscription: [Amanda Williams 2014-2016 / COLOR(ED) THEORY: Currency Exchange, Safe Passage / Edition of 10].
place: label: Place depicted
content: Englewood, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, United States, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Advertising
label: Topic
content: Architecture
label: Topic
content: Art
label: Topic
content: Black geographies
label: Topic
content: Communities
label: Topic
content: Design
label: Topic
content: Finance
label: Topic
content: Housing
label: Topic
content: Photography
label: Topic
content: Poverty
label: Topic
content: Race discrimination
label: Topic
content: Urban life
label: Topic
content: Urban planning
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Portfolio/Series
content: Color(ed) Theory Suite, 2014-2016
label: Classification
content: Visual Arts
label: Classification
content: Decorative Arts, Craft, and Design
label: Classification
content: Photographs and Still Images
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, purchased through the American Women's History Initiative Acquisitions Pool, administered by the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2021.36.6
objectType: label: Type
content: digital prints
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: © Amanda Williams
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: ink on photographic paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (sheet): 22 × 30 in. (55.9 × 76.2 cm)
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (image): 20 × 28 in. (50.8 × 71.1 cm)
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (matted): 30 × 36 in. (76.2 × 91.4 cm)