Hank Willis Thomas: All Things Being Equal (Hardcover)
Staff Reviews
Hank Willis Thomas is a multi-media artist whose work exposes the fallacious and long-held view that Black bodies are inherently physically superior. This thinking was used to justify chattel slavery and it is still prominent today, particularly in the areas of sports, music, dance, and more. Drawing from chattel slavery centuries prior, the sports industry likewise considers Black people as paragons of athleticism and physical ability, always performing for white people.
Thomas also highlights themes of capitalism and consumerism in his work. His astute observations will make you break down in those tears one only sheds from having come across the most penetrating truths of our world.
— From Clarisse
Hank Willis Thomas: All Things Being Equal presents a survey of the artist's prolific and extraordinary interdisciplinary career, incorporating all aspects of his art, with a particular focus on the work's relationship to the photographic image and to issues of representation and perception. At the core of his practice, is his ability to parse and critically dissect the flow of images that comprises American culture, and to do so with particular attention to race, gender, and cultural identity. Other powerful themes include the commodification of identity through popular media, sports, and advertising. In the ten years since his first publication, Pitch Blackness, Thomas has established himself as a significant voice in contemporary art, equally at home with collaborative, trans-media projects such as Question Bridge, Philly Block, and For Freedoms as he is with high-profile, international solo exhibitions. This extensive presentation of his work contextualizes the material with incisive essays from Portland Art Museum curators Julia Dolan and Sara Krajewski and art historian Sarah Elizabeth Lewis, and an in-depth interview between Dr. Kellie Jones and the artist that elaborates on Thomas's influences and inspirations. Copublished by Aperture and the Portland Art Museum, Oregon.