3 Ladies interactive feature
“Every time I think about color it’s a political statement . . . It would be a luxury to be white and never have to think about it . . . The terms used in describing painting have always held a double meaning for me. We’re always talking about the color, but colors are also skin colors, and the term ‘colored’ itself — it all means something else to me. You have to choose as a Black artist, what color to make your figures, which I’m very aware of when I paint. . .’”
— Emma Amos to Lucy Lippard in “Floating, Landing, Falling, an Interview with Emma Amos,” 1991.
Emma Amos, 3 Ladies, 1970. Art Institute of Chicago.
I collaborated with Jay Clarke, Rothman Family Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago, to develop an interactive feature about Emma Amos’ 3 Ladies, 1970. These features are a part of a new initiative at the museum and are produced as a collaborative effort among curatorial departments, Learning and Public Engagement, and Experience Design. This feature examines Amos’ use of experimental printmaking techniques and her use of color, particularly as it relates to skin color. The interactive feature can be viewed here.