COLOR ME
BY JO ANN WILLIAMS FELLOW ALEXANDRIA CLAY

PRESENTED BY THE BLACK ON BLACK PROJECT
MARCH 9 - APRIL 13, 2019

In one of her most famed essays, “How it Feels to be Colored Me,” novelist Zora Neale Hurston speaks on how she “feel[s] most colored when thrown against a sharp white background.” Relating to this experience, Alexandria Clay explores what an opposite, colored background looks like; one that prioritized, reinforced and supported her own identity and not just that of the majority. 

   Creating tangible images of this “ideal world” provides an outlet and place of refuge when stepping back from the endless search for equity. It is a process in which we can pause, digest and perhaps grasp a concrete vision on what may one day come to fruition.

   “Colored Me” questions if public spaces — our daily backgrounds — can reflect each and every one of us.