Hank Willis Thomas is featured in 'Black American Portraits' at LACMA in Los Angeles. Remembering 'Two Centuries of Black American Art', guest curated by David Driskell at LACMA 45 years ago, the exhibition reframes portraiture to centre Black American subjects, sitters and spaces.
Spanning over two centuries (from c. 1800 to the present day), a selection of approximately 140 works draws primarily from LACMA’s permanent collection and highlights emancipation and early studio photography, scenes from the Harlem Renaissance, portraits from the Civil Rights and Black Power eras and multiculturalism of the 1990s. 'Black American Portraits' chronicles the ways in which Black Americans have used portraiture to envision themselves in their own eyes. Countering a visual culture that often demonises Blackness and fetishises the spectacle of Black pain, these images centre love, abundance, family, community and exuberance.
