Meet Amadi Williams | Multidisciplinary Artists & Student

We had the good fortune of connecting with Amadi Williams and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Amadi, why did you pursue a creative career?
I chose to pursue an artistic career because I wanted to see myself within museum and gallery spaces. I remember the first time I went to the MET. I walked around with my father playing a game called spot the Black people and it was so difficult to find anyone that looked like me. When I finally stumbled across someone that looked like me, my father told me to really sit with the painting and think about how the Black people were represented. I realized that all the Black people I was seeing in the paintings were indentured servants and weren’t usually in positions of power. It made me realized that I wanted to represent Black people in a positive way and to represent our histories without re-traumatizing a viewer. Over the years I’ve also started to think more about how my practice can make an impact and I wanted to make sure that I’m amplifying voices of people that have the tendency to go unheard.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My practice has developed in so many ways over the last few years. I started painting my junior year of high school and realized that it was something that I was truly passionate about. I’m now in my junior year of college and it’s made me realized how my work sits outside the rest of my peers. Most of my class critiques of silent and my work is often talked down. But with these in mind it’s pushed me to consider who I’m making work for and thinking about the importance of telling the stories of my family and people that look like me. In high school I was painting on my bedroom floors and now I’m painting 6 foot paintings that really catch a viewers eye. It made me realized that I need to take advantage of the space that I have while I have it.

Over the past year or so I’ve been making paintings based off my family archive and I’ve found that it’s my way of both memorializing and reconfiguring the memories of my family and friends. I come from a long lineage of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease on both sides of my family and I also suffer from a memory disorder myself. I found that with these diseases comes another layer of life and living. With that in mind it made me realize the importance of collecting the stories of my elders before they pass on to another life and for them to see themselves and other family members in a positive light. My paintings have helped me to see the whole picture of my family and want to help my family members that struggle to remember where they are in time to see the memories and people that they cherish so dearly.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
There honestly isn’t a lot to do in providence. Most of my time is spent in the studio or working but I’d probably take them out to some of the fun restaurants in the city like Oberlin and Louis diner. I’d definitely take them around to the studios of some of my close friends here. I feel like going to friends studios is a way of escaping into other places and seeing all of their new work inspires me to work harder.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d like to shoutout my family for supporting my artistic journey throughout the years and my being my muses.

Website: www.amadiwilliams.com

Instagram: amadi13

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amadi-williams-52987118b/

Other: www.meaningfulvoices.com

Image Credits
First photo by Amber