Image: William Villalongo and Shraddha Ramani, Black Migration to the U.S. (1/2), 2025. Screenprint and chine collé, 22 x 28 in. Edition 20. © Villalongo Studio,
Shraddha Ramani, and Graphicstudio, University of South Florida, Tampa. Image courtesy
Graphicstudio. Photo: Argenis Apolinario.
Data Consciousness: Reframing Blackness in Contemporary Print is an exhibition at the Print Center New York featuring the portfolio undertaken
by artists William Villalongo and Shraddha Ramani in collaboration with six publishers
including USF’s own Graphicstudio. The exhibition, running through December 13, also
includes artworks by Tahir Hemphill, Julia Mallory, Silas Munro, and Kameelah Janan
Rasheed.
Printing Black America: Du Bois’s Data Portraits in the 21st Century is an expansive and collaborative research-based print portfolio by William Villalongo
and Shraddha Ramani that updates W.E.B. Du Bois’s ground-breaking data visualizations
from 1900 with contemporary data and perspectives. This portfolio of 30 images was
completed in collaboration with publishers across the United States, including Graphicstudio,
University of South Florida, Tampa; Powerhouse Arts, Brooklyn; Island Press, Washington
University, St. Louis; Highpoint Editions, Minneapolis; Paulson Fontaine Press, Berkeley;
and Mullowney Printing Company, Portland, OR.
Join the conversation! Print Center New York will host a webinar on October 20 at
noon (ET), convening printers from each publisher to discuss this history-making project.
Register now to hear from Graphicstudio faculty members Matt Squires and Carissa Heinrichs.
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 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.