The Power of Pigments: Expressing Black Identity through Color in the Built Environment

Color is a powerful tool to convey cultural symbolism. Black culture is rich with bold and vibrant colors and patterns, celebrations that are joyous and meaningful, and songs that share history, hope, and resilience. However, these expressive forms are not strongly represented in the built environment. This thesis examines the aesthetic and cultural dissonance between the physical environment and the rich tapestry of Black culture by exploring the significance of using color to authentically represent Black identity in the built environment. It emphasizes and suggests the essential and transformative role of color as a design tool in shaping urban spaces that better reflect, represent, and empower the Black community. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, this thesis will progress and develop through two phases.

First, the exploratory phase will provide a comprehensive, systematic review and analysis of color usage in 20 projects/works of art from Black artists and designers, specifically from the Southeast to understand how color is already being used to represent Black identity in different areas of art and design. Second, the descriptive phase will involve addressing these two questions:

How can Black culture be acknowledged and celebrated in a space through color? – application

How does the presence or absence of culturally significant colors in the built environment affect the sense of identity of Black individuals within those spaces? – meaning

Team

Samantha Nash Riggs

Jessica Fernandez, Ph.D.

Prof. Monique Bassey