[1] By revisiting public sculpture[2] and national symbols,[3] Williams creates artworks that subvert dominant narratives of history, power, and American identity.
[6][7] Kiyan Williams is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice encompasses performance, sculpture, installation and media art, through which they subvert national symbols and traditional monumentality.
[8] The artist adopts everyday materials and unconventional methods[9] to uproot the hegemonic narratives of domination that monuments typically celebrate.
Embracing fragments and fissures, Williams’ works recall ancient ruins or relics in a state of decay that also hold capacities for resilience.
Soil, in particular, is a recurring material and metaphor that Williams uses to delve into American history and identity,[12] thus unearthing the historical and ongoing forces that have shaped, and tightly tied together, bodies and land.