FOR FREEDOMS

Hank Willis Thomas will speak about the creation of and inspiration behind For Freedoms as a collaborative and civically-minded artistic project, which involves over 50 artists, and the many activations it has executed across the country in advance of the presidential election.

For Freedoms is an artist-run super PAC founded to encourage art-based forms of political discourse and deeper engagement surrounding the upcoming presidential election. It draws inspiration from FDR’s articulation of the freedoms that underscore civil society: freedom of speech, freedom to worship, freedom from fear, and freedom from want. The medium for this project is American democracy, and it includes nation-wide exhibitions, large-scale public activations and opportunities for audience participation in voicing and presenting their own commitments to personal freedoms.

ABOUT HANK WILLIS THOMAS

Hank Willis Thomas is a conceptual artist working primarily with themes related to identity, history and popular culture. His work has been exhibited throughout the U.S. and abroad including, the International Center of Photography, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Musée du quai Branly, and the Cleveland Museum of Art. Thomas’ work is in numerous public collections including the Museum of Modern Art New York, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the High Museum of Art and the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, among others. His collaborative projects include Question Bridge: Black Males, In Search Of The Truth (The Truth Booth), and For Freedoms. 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. He has also received honorary doctorates from the Maryland Institute of Art and the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts. Thomas lives and works in New York City.