--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I mean, the radical contingency that is…" description: "\"I mean, the radical contingency that is - that exists and the fact that I'm going into the streets and finding random strangers any given day - who's i..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ee/kehinde-wiley-1194_contingency_i-mean-the-radical-contingency-that-is-t_1046009.jpg" --- # I mean, the radical contingency that is - that exists and… ![“I mean, the radical contingency that is - that exists and the fact that I'm going into the streets and finding random strangers any given day - who's in these streets that day?” quote by Kehinde Wiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ee/kehinde-wiley-1194_contingency_i-mean-the-radical-contingency-that-is-t_1046009.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ee/kehinde-wiley-1194_contingency_i-mean-the-radical-contingency-that-is-t_1046009.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ee/kehinde-wiley-1194_contingency_i-mean-the-radical-contingency-that-is-t_1046009.jpg) > “I mean, the radical contingency that is - that exists and the fact that I'm going into the streets and finding random strangers any given day - who's in these streets that day?” [Kehinde Wiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kehinde-wiley/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The unpredictable nature of street encounters highlights how random and diverse human interactions can be. **In simple terms:** Street encounters are random and diverse. Key Takeaway Embrace unpredictability in social interactions. Themes chance human connection urban life Mood curious thoughtful Type observational philosophical When to use this quote - city walks - public art projects - community events - travel experiences Key Concepts serendipity social fabric identity Questions to Reflect On - What can we learn from strangers we meet? - How does randomness shape our perception of community? A Different Perspective Random encounters may feel unsafe for some. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Facts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/facts/) [Radical](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/radical/) [Stranger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stranger/) [Strangers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/strangers/) [Streets](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/streets/) [These streets](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/these-streets/) ## Related quotes > [“There is a kinship between the concepts of nature and radical contingency.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maurice-merleau-ponty/there-is-a-kinship-between-the-concepts-of-nature-and-radical/) [Maurice Merleau-Ponty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maurice-merleau-ponty/) > [We have so much work to do to meet the challenges of people living on our streets. But every day we are out there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/london-breed/we-have-so-much-work-to-do-to-meet-the-challenges-of-people-living-on/) [London Breed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/london-breed/) > [“Wise random strangers at bars are modern-day Oracles of Delphi, except drunk and sometimes leaving abruptly when it's their turn for karaoke.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kelly-williams-brown/wise-random-strangers-at-bars-are-modern-day-oracles-of-delphi-except/) [Kelly Williams Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kelly-williams-brown/) > [I often wonder what extraordinary things are happening while I am living an ordinary moment. What victories and defeats are random strangers going through?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i-p/i-often-wonder-what-extraordinary-things-are-happening-while-i-am/) I :P > [I was on holiday in Morocco and in the middle of nowhere some random strangers suddenly shouted out 'T4!' It was so out of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miquita-oliver/i-was-on-holiday-in-morocco-and-in-the-middle-of-nowhere-some-random/) [Miquita Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miquita-oliver/) > [You know, the process, I think, is the story. And it goes back, again, to what I said about chance and about radical contingency,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kehinde-wiley/you-know-the-process-i-think-is-the-story-and-it-goes-back-again-to/) [Kehinde Wiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kehinde-wiley/) > [Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid...He is the hero, he is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-chandler/down-these-mean-streets-a-man-must-go-who-is-not-himself-mean-who-is-3/) [Raymond Chandler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-chandler/) > [These New York City streets get colder, I shoulder every burden every disadvantage I've learned to manage. I don't have a gun to brandish.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lin-manuel-miranda/these-new-york-city-streets-get-colder-i-shoulder-every-burden-every/) [Lin-Manuel Miranda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lin-manuel-miranda/) > [Fancy living in one of these streets, never seeing anything beautiful, never eating anything savoury, never saying anything clever!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/fancy-living-in-one-of-these-streets-never-seeing-anything-beautiful/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [Brothers and sisters, our democracy has been hijacked. Brothers and sisters, all electoral freedoms in this country are over so long as it's controlled…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zack-de-la-rocha/brothers-and-sisters-our-democracy-has-been-hijacked-brothers-and/) [Zack de la Rocha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zack-de-la-rocha/) > [You can hide beneath the covers and study your pain, make crosses from your lovers, throw roses in the rain. Waste your summer praying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-springsteen/you-can-hide-beneath-the-covers-and-study-your-pain-make-crosses-from/) [Bruce Springsteen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-springsteen/) > [Who can depart from his pain and aloneness without regret? Too many fragments of the spirit have I scattered in these streets, and too…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/khalil-gibran/who-can-depart-from-his-pain-and-aloneness-without-regret-too-many-2/) [Khalil Gibran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/khalil-gibran/) > [My dad was dead, so these streets had to raise me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ludacris/my-dad-was-dead-so-these-streets-had-to-raise-me/) [Ludacris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ludacris/) > [I feel like a lot of niggas in the rap game ain't do what I did in these streets and a lot of niggas…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bobby-shmurda/i-feel-like-a-lot-of-niggas-in-the-rap-game-ain-t-do-what-i-did-in/) [Bobby Shmurda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bobby-shmurda/) > [I just love to play rock and roll. I love to write songs all the time about what's up on these streets. I write…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wesley-willis/i-just-love-to-play-rock-and-roll-i-love-to-write-songs-all-the-time/) [Wesley Willis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wesley-willis/) ## More by Kehinde Wiley > [Much like teaching art to young art students age 10 to 15 or so on, you have to break it down into bite-sized pieces,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kehinde-wiley/much-like-teaching-art-to-young-art-students-age-10-to-15-or-so-on/) [Kehinde Wiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kehinde-wiley/) > [The erotic and the art historical imagination is something that gets very little play when people talk about my work, and when they rarely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kehinde-wiley/the-erotic-and-the-art-historical-imagination-is-something-that-gets/) [Kehinde Wiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kehinde-wiley/) > [One of the weirdest things that happened to artists and art criticism was this moment when everyone got cynical and stopped believing in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kehinde-wiley/one-of-the-weirdest-things-that-happened-to-artists-and-art-criticism/) [Kehinde Wiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kehinde-wiley/) > [At its best, what art does is, it points to who we as human beings and what we as human beings value. And if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kehinde-wiley/at-its-best-what-art-does-is-it-points-to-who-we-as-human-beings-and/) [Kehinde Wiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kehinde-wiley/) > [My style is in the 21st century. If you look at the process, it goes from photography through Photoshop, where certain features are heightened,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kehinde-wiley/my-style-is-in-the-21st-century-if-you-look-at-the-process-it-goes/) [Kehinde Wiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kehinde-wiley/) > [I think the world that I grew up in was like being in this sort of magical artistic garden.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kehinde-wiley/i-think-the-world-that-i-grew-up-in-was-like-being-in-this-sort-of/) [Kehinde Wiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kehinde-wiley/) > [It was something that came sort of matter-of-factually. Because there - it's like really - real honest engagement with the people around me and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kehinde-wiley/it-was-something-that-came-sort-of-matter-of-factually-because-there/) [Kehinde Wiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kehinde-wiley/) > [We're wired to be empathetic and to care about the needs of others, but also to be curious about others. And I think that's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kehinde-wiley/we-re-wired-to-be-empathetic-and-to-care-about-the-needs-of-others/) [Kehinde Wiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kehinde-wiley/) > [Painting is situational. And my particular situation exists within gender, race, class, sexuality, nation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kehinde-wiley/painting-is-situational-and-my-particular-situation-exists-within/) [Kehinde Wiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kehinde-wiley/) > [There were certain expectations that were assumed of me as a young black American 20th-century - then 20th-century artist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kehinde-wiley/there-were-certain-expectations-that-were-assumed-of-me-as-a-young/) [Kehinde Wiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kehinde-wiley/) > [I think, something that you might be able to locate in the work that I'm creating today: the ability to look at a black…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kehinde-wiley/i-think-something-that-you-might-be-able-to-locate-in-the-work-that-i/) [Kehinde Wiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kehinde-wiley/) > [I remember the first time I went to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and saw a Kerry James Marshall painting with black…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kehinde-wiley/i-remember-the-first-time-i-went-to-the-los-angeles-county-museum-of/) [Kehinde Wiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kehinde-wiley/) > [I believe that artists should be part of the culture. I think that my work clearly bears that out.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kehinde-wiley/i-believe-that-artists-should-be-part-of-the-culture-i-think-that-my/) [Kehinde Wiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kehinde-wiley/) > [I guess art is in the eye of the beholder.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kehinde-wiley/i-guess-art-is-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder/) [Kehinde Wiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kehinde-wiley/) > [Just physically, if you looked at the house that I grew up in, my mother created this greenhouse. And surrounded the entire property. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kehinde-wiley/just-physically-if-you-looked-at-the-house-that-i-grew-up-in-my/) [Kehinde Wiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kehinde-wiley/) [Explore all 275 Kehinde Wiley quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kehinde-wiley/) ## More Contingency quotes > [“Seriously, this old woman had no idea how close she came to being squashed like a roach. -Sage Hannigan, Contingency”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/p-s-martinez/seriously-this-old-woman-had-no-idea-how-close-she-came-to-being/) P. S. Martinez > [What fiction offers us is an intimacy shorn of the messy contingencies of human existence - gender, race, class or age. Those moments of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-self/what-fiction-offers-us-is-an-intimacy-shorn-of-the-messy/) [Will Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-self/) > [We will build a Marine Corps based on 36 battalions, which the Heritage Foundation notes is the minimum needed to deal with major contingencies.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-trump/we-will-build-a-marine-corps-based-on-36-battalions-which-the/) [Donald Trump](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-trump/) > [“Evaluation must be done in hindsight, after the work has been done, not for proposals for work to be done. That said, secondary factors…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/venkatesh-narayanamurti/evaluation-must-be-done-in-hindsight-after-the-work-has-been-done-not/) Venkatesh Narayanamurti > [“The universe made no promises. It owes you nothing. It did not invite you to be born. It made no commitments that it could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tobias-m-kohl/the-universe-made-no-promises-it-owes-you-nothing-it-did-not-invite/) Tobias M. Kohl > [You can’t control every contingency. You have to accept that. Let it scare you. Trust that it’ll be okay anyway.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-riordan/you-can-t-control-every-contingency-you-have-to-accept-that-let-it/) [Rick Riordan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-riordan/) > [The very essence of civilized culture is that we deliberately institute, in advance of the happening of various contingencies and emergencies of life, devices…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dale-jamieson/the-very-essence-of-civilized-culture-is-that-we-deliberately/) [Dale Jamieson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dale-jamieson/) > [Life, as the most ancient of all metaphors insists, is a journey; and the travel book, in its deceptive simulation of the journey's fits…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-raban/life-as-the-most-ancient-of-all-metaphors-insists-is-a-journey-and/) [Jonathan Raban](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-raban/) > [The denial of "self" challenges only the notion of a static self independent of body and mind-not the ordinary sense of ourself as a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-batchelor/the-denial-of-self-challenges-only-the-notion-of-a-static-self/) [Stephen Batchelor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-batchelor/) > [“But do you imagine there’s a certain type of person in the world who conforms to the idea of a ‘bad person'? You’ll never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natsume-s-seki/but-do-you-imagine-there-s-a-certain-type-of-person-in-the-world-who/) [Natsume Sōseki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natsume-s-seki/) > [... regard this body as a machine which, having been made by the hand of God, is incomparably better ordered than any machine that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ren-descartes/regard-this-body-as-a-machine-which-having-been-made-by-the-hand-of/) [Rene Descartes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ren-descartes/) > [“emancipatory politics must always destroy the appearance of a ‘natural order’, must reveal what is presented as necessary and inevitable to be a mere…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-fisher/emancipatory-politics-must-always-destroy-the-appearance-of-a-natural/) [Mark Fisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-fisher/) > [A president must be on the job 24/7, ready for any contingency, any crisis, anywhere, anytime.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/a-president-must-be-on-the-job-24-7-ready-for-any-contingency-any/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Whereas some dwell on the bright side of life, enjoying an exciting spectrum of contingencies, and get all the breaks, others live in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erik-pevernagie/whereas-some-dwell-on-the-bright-side-of-life-enjoying-an-exciting/) [Erik Pevernagie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erik-pevernagie/) > [The skin is a variety of contingency: in it, through it, with it, the world and my body touch each other, the feeling and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-serres/the-skin-is-a-variety-of-contingency-in-it-through-it-with-it-the/) [Michel Serres](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-serres/) Browse all 141 Contingency quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I mean, the radical contingency that is - that exists and the fact that I'm going into the streets and finding random strangers any given day - who's in these streets that day?", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Kehinde Wiley" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kehinde-wiley/i-mean-the-radical-contingency-that-is-that-exists-and-the-fact-that/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Contingency" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kehinde-wiley/i-mean-the-radical-contingency-that-is-that-exists-and-the-fact-that/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ee/kehinde-wiley-1194_contingency_i-mean-the-radical-contingency-that-is-t_1046009.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ee/kehinde-wiley-1194_contingency_i-mean-the-radical-contingency-that-is-t_1046009.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ee/kehinde-wiley-1194_contingency_i-mean-the-radical-contingency-that-is-t_1046009.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I mean, the radical contingency that is - that exists and the fact that I'm going into the streets and…” — Kehinde Wiley", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Kehinde Wiley", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kehinde-wiley/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "I mean, the radical contingency that...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kehinde-wiley/i-mean-the-radical-contingency-that-is-that-exists-and-the-fact-that/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kehinde-wiley/i-mean-the-radical-contingency-that-is-that-exists-and-the-fact-that/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```