Hank Willis Thomas was born in 1976 in New Jersey. He received a BFA in Photography and Africana studies from New York University and a MFA/MA in Photography and Visual Criticism from the California College of Arts.
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, Galerie Michel Rein in Paris, Studio Museum in Harlem, Galerie Henrik Springmann in Berlin, 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.
Thomas's 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 is also a recipient of the New Media grant from Tribeca Film Institute and New Media Infinity Award from the International Center of Photography for his transmedia project, Question Bridge: Black Males. Recent notable exhibitions include Hank Willis Thomas at the Cleveland Museum of Art and Repetition and Difference at the Jewish Musuem in New York. He was recently appointed to the Public Design Commission for the city of New York.
Thomas lives and works in New York City, New York.
SELECTED SOLO AND GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2018
- Hank Willis Thomas: Black Righteous Space, University at Albany University Art Museum, NY
- What We Ask Is Simple, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, NY
- Branded/Unbranded, The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, FL
- Hank Willis Thomas: Flying Geese, Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS
- Hank Willis Thomas: Unbranded, The Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Evanston, IL
- Black Survival Guide, or How to Live Through a Police Riot, Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, DE
- Hank Willis Thomas: What We Ask Is Simple, The Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Arts & Culture, Charlotte, NC
- My Life is Ours, Ben Brown Fine Arts, Hong Kong, China
- Hank Willis Thomas: All Things Being Equal..., Portland Museum of Art, Portland, OR
2017
- AIMIA | AGO Photography Prize
- Jacob Lawrence: Lines of Influence, SCAD Museum of Art
- State Property, BronxArtSpace
- Public Art in New York, Museum of the City of New York
- The Beautiful Game, Ben Brown Gallery
- ...And the people, MARUANI MERCIER, Knokke, Belgium
- Blind Memory and Freedom Isn’t Always Beautiful, SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia
- Posing Beauty in African American Culture, Snap! Gallery
- Hank Willis Thomas: Unbranded: A Century of White Women, 1915-2015, York College Galleries, York, Pennsylvania
2016
- To Whom it May Concern, Jablonka Maruani Mercier Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
2015
- Primary Sources, David Winton Bell Gallery at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
- The Truth is I See You, Metrotech, Brooklyn, NY
- In The Box: Hank Willis Thomas, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia
- Unbranded: A Century of White Women 1915-2015, Jack Shainmain Gallery, New York, NY
2014
- ...and only the people, Galerie Henrik Springmann, Berlin, Germany
- History Doesn’t Laugh, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Question Bridge Black Males, DuSable Museum of African American History, Chicago, IL
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
- Albright - Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
- The Alfond Collection of Contemporary Art at Rollins College, Cornell Fine
- Arts Museum, Florida
- Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD
- Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL
- Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
- Culture Corps, New York, NY
- Detroit Institute of Arts,Detroit, MI
- Eileen and Peter Norton Family Collection, Santa Monica, CA
- Frac Aquaitaine, Bordeaux, France
- Fundação Sindika Dokolo Collection, Angola
- Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
- High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
- Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong
- International Center of Photography, New York, NY
- Kadist Art Foundation, CA and Paris, France
- Martin Margulies Collection, Miami, FL
- Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
- Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX
- Nasher Museum, Durham, NC
- National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
- National Galery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
- Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO
- Newark Museum, Newark, NJ
- Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA
- Opa-locka Art, Opa-locka, FL
- Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA
- Rubell Family Collection, Miami, FL
- SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia
- Sir Elton John Collection, Atlanta, GA
- Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
- Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
- Ulrich Museum, Wichita, KS
- Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT
- Weaterspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC
- Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
- Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA
- Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA
