Synopsis

Colored Frames chronicles the Black artist’s struggle for visibility and acceptance. As legendary artist Benny Andrews puts it, Black artists seek to be included or excluded on the basis of quality, “eliminate it on the basis that its not acceptable,” Andrews implores, “not because it’s Black.” The film trumpets the value behind an engaged audience that consumes mainstream images consciously. The film highlights the beauty that comes from variety in representation, as writer and art historian Mary Schmidt Campbell acknowledges about Black art specifically, and the Black experience in general, “we have a lot of beauty to contribute to this country, and I take a lot of pride in that.”

With concise interview segments and impressionistic video collages, Colored Frames is a documentary showcasing the works of contemporary Black artists. The film explores the conversation of art and the Black experience and seeks to eliminate years of negative stereotyping and assumptions that come with images of Blackness in America.