In each new city, Williamson works by setting up a workshop of young artists and other residents, asking them discuss what distinguishes their city and the people of that city from any other. What is good, what is bad, what is peculiar? If the city has an image and an attitude, what is it? At the conclusion of the workshop, participants vote on the most popular statement.
The letters of the statement are fabricated in cheap signage material, and Williamson finds a location in the city appropriate to the message for a photo shoot. On the day of the shoot, the workshop participants meet again and hold up the letters to spell out the message for a word-by-word series of photographs.
At a time when much of the world is in constant flux, the dialogue created by residents of different cities is engaging and revealing. Cities represented in “Other Voices, Other Cities” include Havana; Johannesburg; Harare, Zimbabwe; London; Bern, Switzerland; Berlin; New York City; Krakow, Poland; Napoli, Italy; and Istanbul. During 2013 Williamson completed a residency at SCAD Hong Kong, and in collaboration with SCAD students, she created “No Time to Stroll,” the most recent addition to the series included in the exhibition.
