BLACK FEMINIST MODERNISMS

What will architecture and architectural history gain when Black women, Black queerness, and Black spatial practices are rendered visible? Black Feminist Modernisms explores representation of Black women’s spatial contributions through an exploration of poetry, literature, and architecture. This course seeks to challenge and subvert conventional architectural representation by engaging with media that uplifts hidden and unrepresented spatial histories.

In this course we will read snippets from the work of Saidiya Hartman, bell hooks, June Jordan, and Audre Lorde as a means of centering black feminist theory to approach space. We will explore architectural projects conceptualized by June Jordan and Amaza Lee Meredith as precedents of Black feminist modernist projects. The course will be organized around short lectures, close readings, and discussion. Participants are asked to use interdisciplinary storytelling methods to tell underrepresented architectural narratives through redaction, concrete poetry, drawing, and collage. No architectural experience required!
Tuesdays, 6-8 EST (3-5 PM PST)
​Online on Zoom
120 minute sessions, 5 weeks
June 23 - July 21, 2026
$125 - $375 Tuition
Select scholarships and solidarity rate discounts available upon request.

INSTRUCTOR

khloe swanson is a designer and researcher from Brooklyn, NY interested in black spatial practices, black feminist theory, native plants, and the long struggle for collective liberation. They have contributed to projects for the art and architectural practices of AD–WO, Studio Amanda Williams, Cassandra Press, Studio Cooke John and has co-taught architectural studios at Columbia University. khloe has given talks at a83, Recess Art, and Storefront for Art and Architecture. khloe holds a BA in Urban Policy and Fine Art from Occidental College, an M.Arch from Columbia GSAPP, and is set to soon begin doctoral studies at Yale University in Architecture.
Image credit: June Jordan and Buckminster Fuller, "Skyrise For Harlem"