Printing Black America: Du Bois's Data Portraits in the 21st Century
William Villalongo and Shraddha Ramani
Populations
William Villalongo and Shraddha Ramani, Amalgamation of the Black Population with Other Races, 2025. Screenprint and chine collé. 22 x 28 in. Edition of 20. Printed and published by Powerhouse Arts, Brooklyn, NY. © Villalongo Studio LLC. Courtesy William Villalongo, Shraddha Ramani and Powerhouse Arts LLC Brooklyn, NY.
AMALGAMATION OF THE BLACK POPULATION WITH OTHER RACES
The infographic shows the spectrum of Black identify as recorded in the U.S. Census. The most recent census allows participants to identify with up to six race categories, thereby allowing people to express the complexity of their identity. Historically, this has not always been the case. Census categories fluctuate over the years and currently do not satisfy how many Americans see themselves. Du Bois's original is limited to Black and white, or some now outdated vernacular categories of Blackness such as "brown" and "yellow," terms which seem to have migrated to other groups and across colloquial language. We render this spectrum of Black identity as scribble clusters, underscoring the amalgamation of identity. In an effort to make Afro-Latinidad visible, we also include adjacent red clusters that represent the Hispanic ethnicity within the amalgamation clusters. The high gloss and thick lines resemble marks made by an inky marker.
William Villalongo and Shraddha Ramani, City, Suburban & Rural Population 2020, 2025. Pigment print and chine collé. 28 x 22 in. Edition of 20. Printed and published by Powerhouse Arts, Brooklyn, NY. © Villalongo Studio LLC. Courtesy William Villalongo, Shraddha Ramani and Powerhouse Arts LLC Brooklyn, NY.
CITY, SUBURBAN & RURAL POPULATION
At the turn of the 20th century, Du Bois rightfully predicted and evidenced in his data portraits that cities would become central to Black populations in the U.S., due in large part to the Great Migration. In the 21st century that has shifted dramatically to Black populations moving toward suburban areas, a category that did not exist in 1900. There may be no greater marker of modernity than the suburbs. Indeed, since this phenomenon began in the middle of the 20th century, it has become iconic of the "American Dream," with white picket fences and perfectly maintained lawns. It has also come at a great cost to historically Black areas in cities, which were paved over by highway systems to connect the burbs to cities, nearly decimating small-town economies in rural America. Now, many factors contribute to the increasing Black suburbanization, from higher incomes for some Black families to increasing rates of gentrification in cities making them unaffordable. We updated the iconic spiral used by Du Bois to suggest an unraveling of what used to be the city/rural divide. The decorative graphics within our spiral suggest wallpaper designs, yet another staple of suburban life.
William Villalongo and Shraddha Ramani, Distribution of Black Americans in the United States, 2025. Screenprint and chine collé. 22 x 28 in. Edition of 20. Printed and published by Powerhouse Arts, Brooklyn, NY. © Villalongo Studio LLC. Courtesy William Villalongo, Shraddha Ramani and Powerhouse Arts LLC Brooklyn, NY.
DISTRIBUTION OF BLACK AMERICANS IN THE UNITED STATES
This simple but effective visualization shows where Black people live in the U.S. and its territories. Like a starry night, sparkling colored hexagons sit against the black background like jewels in a velvet box. The viewer reads the data with the brightest and biggest shapes representing higher density populations and the smaller, dimmer twinkles representing lower density populations.
William Villalongo and Shraddha Ramani, Black Elected Officials Representing Brooklyn, 2025. Screenprint. 28 x 22 in. Edition of 20. Printed and published by Powerhouse Arts, Brooklyn, NY. © Villalongo Studio LLC. Courtesy William Villalongo, Shraddha Ramani and Powerhouse Arts LLC Brooklyn, NY.
BLACK ELECTED OFFICIALS REPRESENTING BROOKLYN
The first half decade of the 21st century has ushered in an increase of Black elected officials in Brooklyn. As Eric Adams' first mayoral term comes to a close, he is only the second Black mayor of NYC; preceded by David Dinkins over 30 years ago. In times past, as we go down the ballot across the boroughs, one can find Black officials; many firsts to hold seats. For Brooklyn, the example of Shirley Chisholm looms large and we see how her legacy and energy have flourished in 21st century Brooklyn. Brooklyn has perhaps the largest Black population in NYC, and it goes to follow it is one of the highest in number of Black elected officials. We reproduce this phenomenon as a sample ballot that has been filled out and is ready to be submitted. The silvery graphite scribble in the head count represents each Black official in the various categories of seats across federal, state and local governments that represent Brooklyn.
William Villalongo and Shraddha Ramani, Visualizando la Afrodignidad: Skin Color & Race in Puerto Rico, 2025. Screenprint. 28 x 22 in. Edition of 20. Printed and published by Powerhouse Arts, Brooklyn, NY. © Villalongo Studio LLC. Courtesy William Villalongo, Shraddha Ramani and Powerhouse Arts LLC Brooklyn, NY.
VISUALIZANDO LA AFRODIGNIDAD: SKIN COLOR & RACE IN PUERTO RICO
The image makes visible a study by Jose Caraballo-Gueto and Isar P. Godreau which makes a compelling argument that the ethno-racial categories provided by the U.S. census are not representative of how Puerto Ricans see themselves and are inadequate to assess the impact of racial inequalities. To determine who is more or less vulnerable to racial discrimination, they use a skin-color scale. When applied to a range of socio-economic characteristics, the scale exposes the systemic colorism that has a disproportionate effect on those who are darker-skinned in Puerto Rico. This visualization compares U.S. Census categories against the color scale. This comparison makes visible the disparities between skin color and race categories. It upends easy corollaries of skin color to race in the American racial imagination. We also see that over a third of the population identifies as "other," suggesting that they do not see a race category in the U.S. Census that makes sense for them. Noteworthy, from the standpoint of skin color, is the "other" category contains the most diverse spectrum of gradients. The Caraballo-Gueto/Godreau study was conducted as a phone survey as part of the annual U.S. health survey in Puerto Rico. Participants were asked how they see their skin color on a scale of 1-6. Given the highly subjective nature of identification on a color scale we chose to use a gradient to represent the skin color scale. The heavy blood red lines that divide the information highlight the fraught real-world dynamics of racism and colorism that happen along these divides.
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William Villalongo
William Villalongo was born in 1975. He lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. He received his BFA from The Cooper Union School of Art, MFA from Tyler School of Art at Temple University and attended Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture. His figurative paintings, works on paper and sculpture are concerned with representing the Black subject against notions of race and exploring metaphors of mythology and liberation. His curatorial projects – American Beauty at Susan Inglett Gallery in 2013 and Black Pulp! touring nationally between 2016-2018 – explore the intersections of politics, history and art. Villalongo is the recipient of the prestigious Louis Comfort Tiffany Award and the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters & Sculptor's Grant, and was the 2022 Jules Guerin & Harold M. English Rome Prize Fellow in Visual Art. His work is included in several notable collections including the Studio Museum in Harlem, The Whitney Museum of American Art and Princeton University Art Museum and El Museo del Barrio. His work has been reviewed in Art in America, The New Yorker and the New York Times. The artist is represented by Susan Inglett Gallery, New York and is an Associate Professor at The Cooper Union School of Art.
Shraddha Ramani
Shraddha Ramani is an urbanist and researcher based in Brooklyn, NY. She uses data visualization and mapmaking as tools to make cities more resilient and equitable. Her work is centered around democratizing data to better equip communities to make informed decisions about their futures. She worked in multiple capacities in the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) department at New York City Emergency Management, finishing as the Director of the GIS Data Center. In this role she directed a team to make data-driven decisions for emergency planning, response, recovery, and mitigation. In earlier roles she developed online applications to help the public visualize and understand natural hazard risks in their communities. Previously, she worked on the development of the Future City Lab exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York. Shraddha Ramani is from Bangalore, India and her work is heavily informed by her own immigrant experience. She has participated in planning projects in India and Brazil and was a Peace Corps volunteer in Ecuador. She has a Master's degree in Urban Planning from Columbia University, and a BA in Environmental Studies from Oberlin College.
Further Resources
William Villalongo's Website: villalongostudio.com
Printmaking + Sculpture Terms
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