Hank Willis Thomas facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Hank Willis Thomas
Thomas in 2022
Born	1976 (age 48–49) Plainfield, New Jersey, U.S.
Nationality	American
Alma mater	California College of the Arts (MFA/MA) Tisch School of the Arts (BFA)
Movement	Conceptual art
Spouse(s)	Rujeko Hockley

Hank Willis Thomas (born 1976) is an American artist who creates amazing art that makes you think! He lives in Brooklyn, New York. His art often explores big ideas about who we are, where we come from, and how popular culture shapes our lives. He is known as a conceptual artist, which means his art focuses on the idea behind the artwork, more than just the finished object.

Early Life and Education

Hank Willis Thomas was born in 1976 in Plainfield, New Jersey. His dad, Hank Thomas, is a jazz musician. His mom, Deborah Willis, is also a famous artist, photographer, and teacher.

Hank went to the Duke Ellington School of the Arts where he studied about museums. He later earned a degree in Photography and Africana studies from New York University in 1998. He also got a master's degree in Photography and Visual Criticism from the California College of the Arts in 2004.

Art Career and Exhibitions

Hank Willis Thomas's art has been shown all over the world! You can find his work in famous places like the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. His art has also been displayed in Spain, France, Hong Kong, and the Netherlands.

He often creates art that makes people think about important topics. For example, in his B(r)anded Series, he looks at how Black men are shown in pictures and ads. He takes advertising images and "unbrands" them, so you can see the image itself without the sales message. This helps people think about what the image really means.

One of his powerful art pieces is called Rise Up. It's a permanent display at The National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama. It shows statues of Black heads and bodies coming out of a wall with their arms raised. This artwork reminds us of police violence and police brutality that still happens in America.

In 2017, Hank also created two other public artworks: Love Over Rules in San Francisco and All Power to All People in Opa Locka, Florida. He has also taught art at several universities, including Yale and Princeton.

In January 2023, a huge sculpture by Hank Willis Thomas was unveiled in Boston. It's called "The Embrace" and stands 20 feet tall on the Boston Common. This bronze sculpture honors Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King. It shows their arms hugging, inspired by a famous photo of them after Martin Luther King, Jr. won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Collaborative Art Projects

Hank Willis Thomas often works with other artists and groups to create big projects. These projects usually involve many people and aim to start important conversations.

For Freedoms

In 2016, Hank Willis Thomas helped start an art group called For Freedoms. He created it with artists Eric Gottesman, Michelle Woo, and Wyatt Gallery. This group uses art to encourage people to get involved in their communities and talk about important issues. The name "For Freedoms" was inspired by famous paintings by Norman Rockwell about Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Four Freedoms": freedom of speech, worship, from want, and from fear.

In 2018, For Freedoms launched the 50 State Initiative. This was the biggest art project ever in the U.S.! They put up over 150 billboards in every state, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. Many famous artists took part in this huge campaign.

They also created a photo campaign called Four Freedoms, working with photographers Emily Shur and Wyatt Gallery. They reimagined Norman Rockwell's original paintings to show how diverse America is today. Celebrities like Rosario Dawson and Jesse Williams were part of these new photos, which were shared widely online.

The Writing On The Wall

Hank Willis Thomas also worked with Baz Dreisinger to create "The Writing On The Wall" (TWOTW). This is a traveling art show made from over 2,000 pages of writings and art by people who are or were in prison around the world. It was first shown in New York City in 2019. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they projected the art onto city buildings, including jails and courthouses, to share these important messages.

Cause Collective

The Cause Collective is a group of artists and designers, including Hank Willis Thomas. They create public art that makes people think and talk about important topics in society.

The Long March

The Long March is an art installation at the Birmingham Shuttlesworth International Airport. It uses 27 screens to show videos of movement and migration from Alabama's history. This includes moments like the Civil War, the Children's March, and the Selma Marches. The videos come together in a kaleidoscope shape, like the Camellia flower, which is Alabama's state flower. It shows how different movements in history have led to growth and change.

In Search of the Truth (The Truth Booth)

Hank Willis Thomas is also part of a global art project called In Search of the Truth (The Truth Booth). It's a giant, inflatable speech bubble that says "TRUTH" on the side. People can go inside and finish the sentence, "The truth is..." Their answers are recorded on video.

This "Truth Booth" has traveled to many places, including Ireland, Afghanistan, South Africa, Australia, the United States, and Mexico. The goal is to collect as many different ideas about "The Truth" as possible from people all over the world.

Question Bridge: Black Males

Working with artists Chris Johnson, Bayeté Ross Smith, and Kamal Sinclair, Hank Willis Thomas helped create "Question Bridge: Black Males." This project uses videos to allow Black men of all ages and backgrounds to ask and answer questions about their experiences. It helps to show the many different identities of Black men in America.

Monument Lab's Citywide Public Art Exhibition

In 2017, Hank Willis Thomas installed a sculpture called “All Power to all people” in Philadelphia. It was an eight-foot-tall afro pick standing near Philadelphia City Hall. This artwork was part of a citywide art exhibition by Monument Lab.

Awards and Recognition

Hank Willis Thomas has received many important awards for his art:

• 2023: Medal of Arts from the U.S. Department of State
• 2022: American Academy of Arts and Science
• 2018: Guggenheim Fellowship
• 2017: Soros Equality Fellowship
• 2007: Artadia Award

Permanent Installations

You can find Hank Willis Thomas's art in many places permanently:

• All Power to All People, St. Louis, Missouri (2024)
• Strike, Montgomery, Alabama (2024)
• Duality, Miami, Florida (2023)
• The Embrace, Boston, Massachusetts (2023)
• Unity, Brooklyn, New York (2019)
• Raise Up, National Memorial for Peace and Justice, Montgomery, Alabama (2018)
• Love Over Rules, San Francisco, California (2017)
• All Power to All People, Opa-locka, Florida (2017)

Family Life

Hank Willis Thomas comes from a creative family. His mother, Deborah Willis, is a well-known art photographer and professor. His father, also named Hank Thomas, is a jazz musician and physicist. Hank is married to Rujeko Hockley, who is a curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Artistic Inspiration

Born in 1976, Hank Willis Thomas was amazed that just a few years before he was born, people were still fighting for their basic human rights. He was inspired by the slogan "I am a man" from the Memphis sanitation strike in 1968. This made him think about how different people understand that phrase.

Hank's art often explores how history and culture are presented to us. He thinks about who is telling the story and how that changes what we believe is real. He uses many different types of art, especially photography, because photos can be edited to tell a new version of history. He has also said that the artist Kerry James Marshall has been a big influence on his work.

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