Carl Joe Williams b. 1970
Good Job, Clarence Ivory Williams Sr. (Good Job), 2023
Mixed Media
80 x 48 x 1 1/2 in.
203.2 x 121.9 x 3.8 cm
203.2 x 121.9 x 3.8 cm
PFF563
© Carl Joe Williams
Portrait of the artist's grandfather painted from an old black-and-white photograph. He is smoking a cigarette in an all-white uniform with a relaxed smile on his face.
Provenance
Purchased directly from the artistExhibitions
Lehigh University Libraries. Dates: July 02, 2025.
Carl Joe Williams' statement:
"In the aftermath hurricane Katrina I made a visit to my auntie Iris Williams in Hammond La. I had not seen her in many years and we spent sometime together as a family, me my aunt my mom my kids her daughter Gervonna Williams. On that visit she gave me a gift of family photos of my family, people I had not seen in many years and some I have never seen before, like my grand father Clarence Williams Sr. It was an old black and white photograph, from 1958. The edges crinkled and worn from being handled over the years. He looked very serious and wise in the picture, but also had something in his eyes that made me wish I had known him. He looks like he had a job as possibly a porter ,mechanic, plumber, or bus driver. Jobs like these would be seen as esteemed positions for African Americans in 1958."
"In the aftermath hurricane Katrina I made a visit to my auntie Iris Williams in Hammond La. I had not seen her in many years and we spent sometime together as a family, me my aunt my mom my kids her daughter Gervonna Williams. On that visit she gave me a gift of family photos of my family, people I had not seen in many years and some I have never seen before, like my grand father Clarence Williams Sr. It was an old black and white photograph, from 1958. The edges crinkled and worn from being handled over the years. He looked very serious and wise in the picture, but also had something in his eyes that made me wish I had known him. He looks like he had a job as possibly a porter ,mechanic, plumber, or bus driver. Jobs like these would be seen as esteemed positions for African Americans in 1958."
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