"Insightful and compelling, Sparling Williams's analysis reveals the complex interplay between word and image in the groundbreaking career of artist Lorraine O'Grady. Throughout, Sparling Williams's sustained, nuanced, and layered engagement with the artist's use of language reveals its crucial role in pointing out--and strategically opposing--exclusionary practices in the art world, and beyond."--Rebecca Peabody, author of Consuming Stories: Kara Walker and the Imagining of American Race

"It is a rare treat to read a work about an iconic black feminist artist and critic written by an outstanding emerging black feminist artist and critic. Sparling Williams's Speaking Out of Turn offers powerful commentary on, and a breathtaking compendium of, Lorraine O'Grady's incomparable artistry. This book is undoubtedly one for the ages."--Reiland Rabaka, author of The Negritude Movement and Forms of Fanonism