Hank Willis Thomas: All Things Being Equal

All Things Being Equal is Aperture's survey of Hank Willis Thomas, a decade past his first book. It gathers the photography, sculpture, and collaborative projects he has used to take apart the images American culture runs on.

The book keeps its focus on Thomas's relationship to the photographic image and to questions of representation. It tracks his dissection of advertising, sports, and popular media, with particular attention to race, gender, and cultural identity, and documents how commercial imagery commodifies that identity. Collaborative, trans-media projects appear too: Question Bridge, Philly Block, For Freedoms. Portland Art Museum curators Julia Dolan and Sara Krajewski and art historian Sarah Elizabeth Lewis contribute essays. Dr. Kellie Jones interviews the artist directly about his influences.

Thomas (b. 1976, Plainfield, New Jersey) first published Pitch Blackness in 2008. He has since become a prominent voice in American art, moving between solo exhibitions and the civic-facing work of For Freedoms, the artist-run super PAC he co-founded. All Things Being Equal is Aperture's first full monograph on him, arriving as his practice shifted from gallery photography toward public monuments and collaborative platforms.