Narrator: Atopolis is Whitten’s largest painting—eight panels covered in glittering tiles and molds. It means “without place.” For Whitten, it’s an idea that’s linked to the transatlantic slave trade when millions of African peoples were displaced from their homelands and forced to labor in the Americas.
Whitten described Atopolis as a “borderless city,” where all relationships are “thoroughly interconnected and egalitarian.”
Jack Whitten: Coming out of Alabama and what I experienced, It would be foolish of me to say that bitterness does not exist. But I realized that I had to make a choice of what I wanted to do with my life, what kind of person I wanted to be. So I made a pact. I signed a contract with the universe that I was not gonna hate. It's a contract between spirit and matter.
Narrator: Over time, Whitten has embraced an ever-expanding view of the universe.
Jack Whitten: What I’ve been working with for the last 50 years became more, I like to use the word profound. The tesserae, not only can I work it as a little unit like that, but it acts like a wave. It continues to expand. When freedom expands, consciousness expands.
Archival audio courtesy of The HistoryMakers Digital Archive