EXHIBIT OF AMERICAN NEGROES: REVISITED

2021 (On-going)

Gouache, pencil, mixed media on paper. 28 x 20 inches, x20.

For the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris, activist and sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois led the creation of 67 modernist drawings that visualized data on the state of Black life. These hand-drawn illustrations were part of the Exhibit of American Negroes, which Du Bois collaboratively organized to represent Black life in America at the world’s fair. The premise of The Exhibit of American Negroes, Revisited is simple, yet significant, for its potential to reveal patterns, progress, and impasses in the socioeconomic development of Black Americans over the past century. How much has changed since Du Bois’ presentation? What parallels exist between historic and contemporary systems of oppression and support for Black Americans? This series updates the original set of 67 drawings with contemporary data on the lives of black people living in America with 2020 census data. The composition, aesthetic, and areas of inquiry are consistent with the originals, illuminating how new data changes the drawings’ forms.