s3e90 Printing Black America with William Villalongo and Shraddha Ramani

In this episode of Platemark, Shraddha Ramani and William Villalongo discuss their monumental project Printing Black America: Du Bois’s Data Portraits in the 21st Century, which is being published in fall 2025. This modern update of W.E.B. Du Bois's data visualizations from 1900, which was created in response to the George Floyd protests, focuses on the lives of Black Americans today, incorporating contemporary data and research. The project includes 30 prints produced by six major printshops across the U.S., aiming to reflect the geographic and demographic shifts of Black populations since Du Bois's time. We talk about the project’s historical context, some of the challenges they’ve faced, their personal experiences, and the significance of printmaking in preserving cultural history. We also talk about its debut in the exhibition at the Print Center in New York and the broader implications of the project for future generations.