Kandis Williams

Description

Williams draws on her background in dramaturgy to envision a space that accommodates the biopolitical economies that inform how movement might be read. Looking at the interconnections between popular culture and myth, she relates in her work anatomy, regions of Black diaspora, and communication and obfuscation. Williams's body of work shapes an alternative language that examines how Black moving bodies are regarded. Williams continues to make visible the inexpressible violence Black bodies have been subjected to in dance and beyond. Featuring contributions by the curator of 52 Walker-a David Zwirner gallery space-Ebony L. Haynes and the artist and writer Hannah Black, and a stirring conversation between Williams and the choreographer Okwui Okpokwasili, the book serves as an extension of the exhibition. Included are high-quality illustrations of the artworks alongside rich archival materials. - About Clarion Series The Clarion series of illustrated publications is positioned as an extension of each exhibition at the groundbreaking gallery space 52 Walker, curated by Ebony L. Haynes. The program focuses on showcasing conceptual and research-based artists from a range of backgrounds and at various stages in their careers. The series title is derived from the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop, the oldest of its kind, at the University of California, San Diego. Octavia Butler attended this workshop in the 1970s. Both she and her work have been extremely influential in many cadres of Black culture and subculture. With a sleek design influenced by encyclopedias, each publication will feature color reproductions of the works on view, alongside an introduction by Haynes, commissioned essays, artist texts, archival material, and more.

Kandis Williams (b. 1985) was born in Baltimore and received her BFA from Cooper Union in New York in 2009. She is the founder of the publishing and educational platform Cassandra Press. In addition to her visual arts practice, for which she has been exhibited internationally, Williams's performances have been mounted in institutions across the world. She is the recipient of the 2021 Grants to Artists award, presented by the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, New York, and the 2020 Mohn Award for artistic excellence, presented by the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. Williams is represented by Night Gallery and currently lives and works in Los Angeles. Ebony L. Haynes is a writer and curator from Toronto. She is based in New York, where she is a director at David Zwirner. Haynes is a visiting curator and critic at the Yale School of Art in the painting and printmaking class of 2021. She also runs an online "school" that offers free professional practice classes to Black students worldwide.

"Beyond its contribution to what 52 Walker is and will become, Williams' exhibition is elegant and conceptually rich." -- "Artnet News" "Lining the gallery walls is a series of Williams's diagrammatic collages, combining ink and photocopied, cutout images of dancers; the results suggest a novel, conceptual method of movement notation."-- "The New Yorker" "The polymath's transhistorical narratives are rich, sharp, and choreographic...Fortunately for us, Williams foregrounds these injustices, quietly but powerfully, while marking out parameters for another kind of vanguard."-- "Artforum" "The works consider race and gender issues relevant to Black dancers in mainstream culture, exploring the legacy of past Black dancers and dance history through a variety of media, including video installations, assemblage, collages and sculptures."-- "The Art Newspaper" "Few curators have shifted the paradigm in the mega dealer stratosphere; fewer still can be said to have made the art world slow down. And yet, that's precisely what Ebony L. Haynes has done"-- "Cultured Magazine" "breathes life into Tribeca," "serves as a record of breath and movement," "rethink possibilities for how performance can look in the gallery--and therefore history"-- "The Brooklyn Rail" "Dance is both the central theme and a lens to inspect contemporary culture in A Line...The exhibition keynotes an experimental, even exacting, program that the curator Ebony L. Haynes has set for 52 Walker, a kunsthalle-like venue where shows will run for several months."--Siddhartha Mitter and Siobhan Burke "The New York Times"