Over the past few years, I’ve written short essays in response to artworks produced by white artists, works exhibited and distributed through major art-world projects (the LA Art Book Fair, the Whitney Biennial, and the Walker’s sculpture garden). Each of these artworks were meant, by the artists, to be, in some way, “about racism.” Here, I’ll share this writing with an eye towards developing it into something more formal — perhaps teachable. The question — the hesitation — for me is: how to stage a conversation like this without centering discussion of anti-racist art practices on the work of white artists — and, too, how to confront racism in work about racism.

Framing this conversation with E.J. Hill’s work should support a different kind of conversation — one which takes shape in the space opened up by the act of calling out — calling out, dialing in — pushing through — imagining art, embodiment and abstraction so differently that, perhaps, what we have been taught to think of as art falls apart — collapses into a wood pile.

— Jennifer Doyle