Ahead of the official release of Printing Black America: Du Bois’s Data Portraits in the 21st Century by William Villalongo and Shraddha Ramani anticipated for Spring 2026, this monumental collaborative portfolio will debut in the exhibition Data Consciousness: Reframing Blackness in Contemporary Print at Print Center New York. The exhibition, curated by Tiffany E. Barber, will be on view in New York from September 18-December 13, 2025.
Sneak peek of the the prints published by Highpoint Editions.
Data Consciousness is conceptually and spatially anchored by this expansive, collaborative, and research-based print portfolio by artist William Villalongo and urbanist Shraddha Ramani. Their project, Printing Black America: Du Bois’s Data Portraits in the 21st Century, follows Du Bois’s ground-breaking approach to his iconic data visualization illustrations by using national data on Black life drawn from official records such as the 2020 U.S. Census as well as hyper-local oral testimonies and archives. The resulting portfolio of 30 images is produced in collaboration with six print publishers across the U.S.: Powerhouse Arts, Brooklyn; Graphicstudio, University of South Florida, Tampa; Island Press, Washington University, St. Louis; Highpoint Editions, Minneapolis; Paulson Fontaine Press, Berkeley; and Mullowney Printing Company, Portland, OR.
Data Consciousness: Reframing Blackness in Contemporary Print brings together work by Black contemporary artists who explore expanded modes of printmaking to question the complex interplay between race, technology, and representation in our increasingly data-driven world. The exhibition features work by Tahir Hemphill, Julia Mallory, Silas Munro, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, and William Villalongo and Shraddha Ramani. It will run September 18—December 13, 2025 in the Center’s Jordan Schnitzer Gallery.
Data Consciousness is curated by Tiffany E. Barber, and its title references the concept of double consciousness articulated by the sociologist, historian, and activist W.E.B. Du Bois—the sensation and unreconciled striving of looking at and measuring oneself through the eyes of others. The exhibition also draws inspiration from Du Bois (1986–1963), who, at the 1900 Paris Exposition, presented a series of graphs, charts, maps, and photographs that visualized Black life after Reconstruction. Now considered important contributions to American design history and an early form of visual sociology and data science, Du Bois’s proto-modernist, hand-drawn infographics have had a profound impact in how we measure racial progress, and are of increasing relevance as the presence of data in daily life grows. The works on view in Data Consciousness—including prints, sculpture, installation, textile, and video—reframe Black contemporary art as a critical site for understanding how digital infrastructures amplify and constrain identity and autonomy.
Events Surrounding the Exhibition
Opening Reception | Data Consciousness: Reframing Blackness in Contemporary Print
Thursday, September 18, 2025
6:00 PM 8:00 PM
Join us for the opening reception Data Consciousness: Reframing Blackness in Contemporary Print, an exhibition exploring how Black contemporary artists engage with expanded modes of printmaking to question the complex interplay between race, technology, and representation in our data-driven world. The exhibition features Tahir Hemphill, Julia Mallory, Silas Munro, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, and William Villalongo and Shraddha Ramani.
Saturday, September 20, 2025
2:00 PM 6:00 PM
The Cooper Union
On the occasion of the exhibition Data Consciousness: Reframing Blackness in Contemporary Print, this symposium gathers artists in the exhibition with multidisciplinary scholars to bridge past, present, and future thinking on the complex interplay of race, identity, data, and technology. Using the artworks and themes in the exhibition as a jumping off point, the symposium considers how Du Boisian legacies of art, design, literature, and sociology inflect contemporary cultural production, and explores the urgency of cultivating data consciousness in our present moment. The symposium is cohosted by Print Center New York and the Cooper Union School of Art.
Full program details will be announced on Print Center New York’s website in August.
IFPDA Print Month | Evening Viewing of Data Consciousness: Reframing Blackness in Contemporary Print
Thursday, October 9, 2025
6:00 PM 8:00 PM
Join us during IFPDA’s Print Month to celebrate the exhibition Data Consciousness: Reframing Blackness in Contemporary Print. The exhibition brings together work by Black contemporary artists who explore expanded modes of printmaking to question the complex interplay between race, technology, and representation in our increasingly data-driven world.
Remarks at 7pm will focus on the work that conceptually and spatially anchors the exhibition—an expansive, collaborative research-based print portfolio by William Villalongo and Shraddha Ramani called Printing Black America: Du Bois’s Data Portraits in the 21st Century.
Open to Print Center New York Members