Amanda Williams: How ‘Project Plantation’ came to light the profiles of agricultural pioneer George Washington Carver and Atlanta’s black design past.
George Washington Carver, an American agricultural scientist and inventor who, in the 1920s and 30s, led research efforts for nearly 50 years at Tuskegee University’s agricultural laboratory in Alabama, transformed southern soil by encouraging replenishment. Farmers, among other ideas to limit soil depletion, grew helpful legumes like peanuts and sweet potatoes.
Amanda Williams, an Artist-in-Residence with a background in urban planning, has gained critical acclaim with two solo exhibitions at the Chicago Design Museum, Art Design Chicago Exhibitions and Beyond Maxwell Street: Gleaning the Portage Theater and City Hall’s Chambers as well as several previous architecture-focused solo exhibitions including Color(ed) Theory Shell and Layer Circus, Busker’s Buffet and Tablecloths. Collectively, her work has garnered nearly 300 million media impressions and received critical reviews in publications including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Forbes.
“Project Plantation,” in the words of Williams, is, “part conversation starter, part social experiment.” It aims to examine and bridge the disparities the artist sees between Tuskegee and Atlanta by “probing a former legacy.” The LAS conducts case-studies on carbon filtering systems and food production in urban Atlanta and has mapped former slavery barrick-yards throughout Atlanta to greelight working innocence. The installation will be shown in Alabama and in Atlanta this spring.
In Atlanta the installation will coincide with “Unseen, Unheard,” a one-night mini-festival of art, music and poetry on Georgia State University’s campus, which features acclaimed visual artist and activist A’del Cain of Baltimore. Held at the Student Center Ballroom, the event will include work from Atlanta-based artists including noted poet Tabias Olajuwon of Decatur, and a collection of poems by poet Christopher Roman of Godlove/Dragée Timbers in Etowah, AL. The event will be free to the public.
“Project Plantation” was initiated by a 2017 Mellon Seminar for Arts Practice and Scholarship held on the Spelman College campus lead by Professor Brian Edward, post-doctoral fellow in 19th C Architectural History & Theory, The Kenan Institute for Private Enterprise and The Sam Nunn School of Government. This Beyond The Edge at Spelman Arts Research Fellowship program was supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Over the course of this project, Williams, using construction materials and found objects, will transform library study spaces in Georgia State and Alabama State University, using previously decommissioned library materials and artifacts as she undergoes research synthesis for scholarly short essays that run in tandem with her large scale studio paintings. Her paintings are commentary, sparked by a deep interest and abiding social concern for the environment and for the black urban diaspora, one that amplifies lifeline in black culture over the visual song of individual, loneliness. It is an art that looks to social transformation through sentimentality and critical observation.
Throughout 2018, Williams will be an artist in residence at Emory University.
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