Amanda Williams’s Color(ed) Theory

2016

Williams painted empty homes on the South Side of Chicago for her Color(ed) Theory series.

Amanda Williams (b. 1974) is a Chicago native and artist who investigates color, race, and place (how locations matter and inform us). In her Color(ed) Theory series, Williams uses color from commercial products and locations widely known to the Chicago African American community to paint and photograph seven soon-to-be demolished homes in Englewood, Chicago. Chicago’s South Side has long been shaped by systemic underinvestment and housing inequality that limited where many Black residents could live.

In Color(ed) Theory: Ultrasheen, Williams paints a home in cyan, a color often associated with Ultra Sheen, a staple hair product within the Black community. By connecting the homes to Black cultural memory, she reveals the loss that occurs when homes are marked for demolition.