ArtistLionel Frazier White III
Mighty Clouds of Witnesses
Date2018
MediumCollaged photocopies on wood
Dimensions16 x 64 3/4 in. (40.6 x 164.5 cm)
Framed Size: 21 1/2 x 69 1/2 in. (54.6 x 176.5 cm)
Credit LineDC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Art Bank Collection
Object numberDCCAH2022.068.4
ClassificationsCollage
Locations
- DCPS Central Office (1200 First St NE)
DescriptionLionel White’s work examines how stories are being obscured and erased due to factors such as gentrification. White begins with photographic artifacts, then collages and/or paints over them to juxtapose social histories and narratives. Inspired by Marching On—a collaboration between Bryony Roberts, Mabel O. Wilson, and Marching Cobras—and Tricia Rose’s book Black Noise, White focuses on how Black bodies navigate and contest the politics of space in the urban environment as well as within infrastructure such as apartment complexes and school buildings. White aims to understand the changing nature of space and to maintain resilience against forces that would erase Black people and their legacy.