A flawless journey for Paul-Aimé William, Guyana doctoral student, winner of the Beauford Delaney International Art History Scholarship, living in Villa Albertine in the United States

Paul-Aimé William is living a waking dream. He took full advantage of it. This Guyana is a resident at Villa Albertine. A prestigious residence that welcomes artists from around the world to the United States. Created by the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs with the support of the Ministry of Culture, Villa Albertine renews the concept of a residence, “by shifting the center of gravity from residence to region of residence and invites you to explore these continents from the top 10 existing cities of the United States.”

This cultural mecca is run by a team of 80 people spread across Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, New Orleans, San Francisco, and Washington, DC Offers an annual program of 60 exploratory residencies, lasting from one up to three months, aimed at creators, researchers but also professionals from the world of culture.

Among the most recent winners: Paul-Aimé William. Born in Kourou in 1996, he first studied mathematics at the University of Guyana. Then, finally, he devoted himself to Art History by redirecting himself to the Higher Education of Plastic Arts at the University of Paris 8.

Paul-Aimé William was a doctoral student in Art History (EHESS & IMAF-Institut des mondes africaines) under the supervision of Carlo Célius and a member of the Afrikaada collective (journal of contemporary African art).

His thesis is entitled “Contemporary Art in Guyana (1969-2020)” is a survey of 50 years of Art history in Guyana. This thesis allowed him to be awarded the Beauford Delaney Fellowship from the Ford Foundation for research in Art History, after being selected by the Selection Committee of the National Institute of Art History (INHA) in Paris.

The Beaufort Delaney Fellowship values ​​original research on African American art. This will enable him to benefit from tailor-made support during his three month stay in Washington and New York, in the Villa Albertine residency program. Paul-Aimé William was also selected for his research project on James Amos Porter, an art historian whose book Modern Negro Art, published in 1943, initiated the development of other approaches to African-American art.

I grew up between the University of Paris 8, activism within the AFRIKADAA artist collective and the Paris art scene. Doing research in a unique field like art history from a country that is subject to various forms of extractivism is my way of resisting, approaching social, political and aesthetic issues in this corner of the Caribbean. I approach my new research work on the African American art historian James Amos Porter with humility given the seriousness of his work and with intense affinity for the fact that the United States represents a colonial territory that has experienced slavery to the African humanities…

Paul-Aime William

Villa Albertine website

In New York, Atlanta and Washington DC, he will visit research centers where the James Porter archive is kept.

Doing research in a field as unique as the history of art from a country that is subject to various forms of extractivism is my way of resisting, approaching social, political and aesthetic issues in this corner of the Caribbean. I approach my new research work on the African-American art historian James Amos Porter with the utmost humility given the seriousness of his work and with the closest proximity to the fact that the United States represents one colonial territory experiencing slavery to the African humanities. Indeed, research, creation, and debate about the condition of black people in the world has answered, since the mid-16th century, questions and anti-black violence that is still at work today.

Paul-Aime William

Villa Albertine website

This residence in the United States will last for three months. Paul Henri Williams is overflowing with projects. However, his priority is to complete his thesis in Guyana. Only 26 years old, the world opened up to him.

To read and listen on Radio France :→ In the United States, Paul Aimé William followed in the footsteps of James Amos Porter.