Help William Reimagine Du Bois's Historic Data Portraits

Hello! My name is William Villalongo and I am an artist in Brooklyn, NY.

I am fundraising to complete a long-term project of reimagining the historic "data portraits" made by W.E.B. Du Bois in 1900, using current data to bring awareness of conditions around Black lives in the 21st Century.

Over the past 3 years Urbanist Shraddha Ramani and I have been collaborating with fine art printmaking shops to make original artworks inspired by W.E.B. Du Bois's historic works of data visualization. Maps, graphs and charts are being developed through research and translated into artwork as 6 thematic print portfolios for a total of 30 unique images.

Image detail: Black Migration 1/2. Publisher: Graphicstudio, FL. Silkscreen & Lithography.

We are using the 2020 Census, independent research and working with Black social scientists around the country to produce visualizations that highlight their local studies on Black life in America. The groundwork for our updated inquires on Black life have been workshopped at Clark Atlanta University's Center for Africana Digital Humanities. This project is in consultation with historian Nell Irving Painter who will provide a foreward essay in each portfolio. Seed funding for initial research was provided by a Social Science Research Council grant through the An American Dilemma project in 2021. We have engaged multiple audiences through public programming and in classrooms around the country with this project since 2021.

VIP SUPPORTER LEVELS:

• $10,000 A contribution at this level will receive one full print portfolio signed by Villalongo and Ramani. A full portfolio comes in an archival hard cover folio and includes a set of 5 different visualizations + 4 introductory sheets. The introductory pages include a title, the poem “Madam and the Census Man” by Langston Hughes, a forward by historian-artist Nell Irvin Painter and a signed acknowledgements statement by Villalongo and Ramani. Each sheet inside the portfolio measures 22” x 28”

•$5000 A contribution at this level will receive an unbound 4 piece set which includes Title, Langston Hughes poem and 2 visualizations. Each sheet measures 22” x 28”.

•$2000 A contribution at this level will receive one print visualization. Sheet size 22” x 28”

•$500 A contribution at this level will receive one limited edition visualization in miniature. Sheet size 11” x 14”

*Contribution awards will be available upon completion of artworks.

WHERE DOES YOUR MONEY GO?

As we approach our capstone exhibition at Print Center NY in Fall 2025 we have made incredible strides on this project with 4 portfolios in progress, yet we still have a ways to go to achieve 6 portfolios, a total of 30 unique images. Your support will allow us to produce the hard cover folios that will hold the prints and purchase a silkscreen run of the introduction pages for each portfolio which will include Title, acknowledgements, a poem by Langston Hughes and a short essay by Nell Irvin Painter. Resources for which are not provided by our print partners, yet will give context and completion to the project as an archive. Your support will also allow us the resources needed to engage commercial shops, travel and accommodations to produce the final 10 images.

Image detail: Black Homeownership in the States and Territories of the U.S. Publisher: Graphicstudio, FL. Silkscreen.

WHY ARE WE DOING THIS?

Since 1900, the Black population of the US has shifted through waves of migration from Africa and the Caribbean, and some hopeful trends in education and business participation have continued to grow, while others have stagnated or reversed due to policy choices, such as land ownership and wealth building. How do we refocus a hopeful lens on Black America, when now ubiquitous data visualizations highlight negative trends? Revisiting Du Bois’s original inquiries and methodologies turns a critical lens on big data in Black lives given its enormous influence on the development of communities.

We want to bring awareness to Du Bois's incredible work while creating archival documents that can be studied in multiple spaces, shedding light on the social conditions facing Black America in the 21st Century. Like Du Bois, we believe that the intersections of art and social science and can reveal important truths about who we are and provide a foundation for change.

Du Bois's important work, first displayed at the World's Fair in Paris, was an unprecedented use of data and art to study the lives of people. Sadly, these incredible pieces of art were fragile and sat in the Library of Congress for decades afterward, barely seeing the light of day. Generations would not be aware of this work even as the use of data visualization in the social sciences became more common in practice due in large part to Du Bois's example. My work as an artist for over 20 years has addressed the notion of erasure around Black presence through figurative art. This project is an expansion of my practice made possible through critical conversations and collaborations with data analysts and historians.

HAVE WE TRIED OTHER FUNDING SOURCES?

Yes, our initial research funding was provided through an SSRC grant and gave us resources for materials and software and allowed for travel to engage with Du Bois's papers in multiple institutions. We have sought funding through Creative Capital in both the Technology and Art categories. We were finalists for the Technology category, but were ultimately not funded. However, we were put on the Creative Capital "Shortlist 2023.” The project also made finals for the 2023 Guggenheim Memorial Foundation grant, yet was not awarded support. While we did not achieve funding, the juries of these esteemed institutions chose to advance this project among thousands of applications. Because of this we know that this project is worthy of funding and we hope you find it worthy as well!