A duo show of Hank Willis Thomas & Lyle Ashton Harris
The body of work of Hank Willis Thomas revolves around inequality, racism and perspective. In the two Unbranded series to be exhibited at the fair, modified advertisements from the past show the evolution of women and afro-americans in society.
Thomas’ unbranding technique tracks notions of virtue, power, beauty, privilege, and desire in mainstream America. Spanning the rise and decline of print advertising, the work provides a spectrum for what has been marketed to individuals across gender, racial, and socio-economic lines throughout the past hundred years.
For more than two decades Lyle Ashton Harris has cultivated a diverse artistic practice ranging from photographic media, collage, installation and performance. His work explores intersections between the personal and the political, examining the impact of ethnicity, gender and desire on the contemporary social and cultural dynamic. Known for his self-portraits and use of pop culture icons (such as Billie Holiday and Michael Jackson), Harris teases the viewers’ perceptions and expectations, resignifying cultural cursors and recalibrating the familiar with the extraordinary.
