Columbia GSAPP 1919: Black Water
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New York artist Torkwase Dyson combines expressive markings with geometric abstraction, creating visual and material systems that explore the relations between the movement of the body and architecture, emphasizing the way black bodies perceive and negotiate space. Throughout her work, Dyson considers forms of environmental justice from contemporary and historical perspectives, trying to uncover new ways of understanding geography and belonging. Starting with the tragic episode that occurred on the segregated waters of the Chicago South Side beaches, her 1919: Black Water exhibition showcased a body of work that reflected on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Red Summer of 1919, a period of intense racial violence in the United States.
With Dyson’s investigation about the ways in which water—historically and in the present—has operated as a contested geography, we opted for a graphic identity that hinged on a deep blue-to-black gradient, as heavy as the cumulative color layers, washes and textures in Dyson’s paintings. We let geometric markings be determined by the publication’s design and typeface. Additionally, we used a secondary typeface based on that of the newspapers of the time.
