Under

the

Influence:

Hank

Willis

Thomas

Who has helped Hank Willis Thomas forge his path as an artist? For Artforum’s Under the Influence video series, the conceptual artist details the people who have shaped his vision over the years: his former professor, the photographer Larry Sultan; his peer Rashid Johnson; and his mother Deborah Willis. Reflecting on our current political context, Thomas argues that art-making is as essential as it is malleable: “So much is changing in the world right now that I feel it’s necessary to be creative, as a survival tactic.”