Howardena Pindell: Autobiography: Circles 

Production | Acquisition Grant

Howardena Pindell’s design for the façade of the George I. Sanchez Building at The University of Texas at Austin is a legacy project for the pioneering artist. Titled Autobiography: Circles, it draws on Pindell’s rich personal and political narrative, blending recurring themes and borrowing visual elements from works made throughout her career. Colored circles recall the artist’s signature use of hole-punched dots¾a practice informed by her appreciation of the shape as found in nature, and her experience seeing dots on dinnerware designated for Black customers in the Jim Crow era. Numbers represent the tags that tracked enslaved Africans as well as the artist’s interest in mathematics. Arrows symbolize flight, social mobility, transformation, and scientific equations and calculations.

Pindell’s composition is integrated into the renovated building façade through a digital print process in which ceramic ink is fused to the glass panels and carefully lit from the interior. Measuring approximately 25 by 50 feet, and spanning multiple stories, the installation evokes the luminous quality of stained-glass.

This project was commissioned by Landmarks, the public art program of The University of Texas at Austin, which enriches the lives of students and visitors by presenting art that is broadly accessible and free to all. Some fifty works of modern and contemporary art are installed throughout the 433-acre campus and viewed by thousands every day.