The Invisible Presence of Blackness in American Art

To love and live with a painter means marveling at the space between the things they see that you cannot see, that they then make. White canvas, blank walls, his vision.

In the film’s poignant juxtapositions, we witness a clash of imaginations—a governing white imagination captivated by the utopian possibilities of space travel, and a Black social imagination demanding attention to the dystopias right under our noses.

These were the moments when I was reminded that no matter how passively I engaged with my Blackness, it was never not a force at work in my life. And, I found, the knowledge of my Blackness could be used as a weapon against me at any moment.

Somehow it seems wrong to photograph a blind person. It’s like stealing something valuable they don’t even know they own.