Over two years, Amanda Williams painted eight condemned houses in and around Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood, selecting colors from the consumer products and companies marketed to the Black communities of the city’s South Side. This project highlights the ways we construct meaning from color, how these associations are inextricably linked to race and class, and how they connect to the long-standing history of public disinvestment in Black neighborhoods.

Amanda Williams. Ultrasheen, from the Color(ed) Theory Suite. 2014-2016
Amanda Williams. Pink Oil Moisturizer, from the Color(ed) Theory Suite. 2014-2016

Watch Amanda Williams Ted Talk on her project Color(ed) Theory.