HANK WILLIS THOMAS (B. 1976)

The present lot, Black Power, 2006, is an image that conveys with patent brevity Hank Willis Thomas’ interest in themes of perspective, identity, commodity, media, and popular culture. A powerful sentiment portrayed through a flashy apparatus, Black Power, 2006 demonstrates a tension between a struggle for racial equity and acknowledgement as well as a commodification of identity through popular media. Thomas’ broad and interdisciplinary career, surveyed in the Aperture text Hank Willis Thomas: All Things Being Equal, explores the relationship between the photographic image and issues of representation and perception.