Hank Willis Thomas

Hank Willis Thomas was born in 1976 in New Jersey. He received a BFA in Photography and Africana studies from New York University, NY, and a MFA/MA in Photography and Visual Criticism from the California College of Arts, CA.

Thomas is a photo conceptual artist working primarily with themes related to identity, history and popular culture. He employs language and familiar imagery to address issues that are often overlooked in our pop culture-obsessed, consumerist culture. Thomas’ monograph, Pitch Blackness, won the Aperture West Book price.

Thomas exhibited throughout the U.S. and abroad, including the International Center of Photography, Studio Museum in Harlem, and the Baltimore Museum of Art, among others. Thomas’ work is in numerous public collections including The Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; The Brooklyn Museum, New York; The High Museum of Art, Atlanta; and the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC.

His collaborative projects have been featured at the Sundance Film Festival and are installed permanently at the Oakland International Airport, The Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport, The Oakland Museum of California, and the University of California. He was recently appointed to the Public Design Commission for the city of New York.