I always like to come to each lecture without any prior knowledge (if I can help it) of the artist, their work or their intentions so that I don’t any preconceived expectations for the lecture. Today was one of those lectures that I was so glad to know nothing about because it absolutely blew me away. For the first time in quite a while I felt motivated and inspired to create new work. Hank Willis Thomas was undoubtedly one of my favorite VCU lecturers to date.
From the start of his lecture, he revealed his earlier work and I cannot even begin to explain how invaluable that was for us as student’s to hear an artist talk about their real beginnings. I found it interesting that he said he was unprepared, as it came across as one of the most intelligent and well thought out lectures I have ever attended. His motivation was resonant throughout his talk and in turn I felt that his passion and desire to create things he was passionate about rubbed off on me.
I loved the intro to the lecture when he showed the two images side by side of President Ronald Reagan and Mike Tyson in the 90s and then the complete shift to our world today with President Barack Obama as our nation’s leader and Wladimir Klitschko as the Heavyweight champion of the world. Most of his work “is a result of an exploration and subsequent appropriation of the language of advertising.” He said that he thought of “logos as our generations hieroglyphs” as we as a consumer culture become slaves to corporate branding. His work had me think back to Penelope Umbrico’s work and related the two- how both artists utilized advertisements and imagery in similar ways. One of the most powerful things that Thomas said was in reference to his cousin’s death. That during the process of laying our loved ones to rest we are still making decisions about what casket is best (we are told that it is the most expensive) so even “in the process of grieving, we are still being marketed to.”
Winter in America was amazing. His cousin’s death obviously had a tremendous impact on his life and explained his series “Pitch Blackness” as a combination of 3 ideas that congealed. This series dealt with loss, and exploring the complexities of black and white all the while he was trying to “learn to see or be myself without his shadow.” The stills from this film appealed to me with vibrant color and shallow depth of field- they were a fantastic compliment to the film he created about a tragic event that drastically changed his life. I also really felt inspired by his “Bearing Witness: Murder’s Wake” series in which he attempted to photograph people that knew his cousin in hopes of reconnecting with him through those that knew and spent time with him. I loved how he used blank spaces to indicate those people that his cousin had affected or come to know in his lifetime, but that Thomas had never known. Those were moments of his life that were unknown to Thomas and in turn he was unable to document.
I could really go on and on about this lecture for days, but perhaps I should save that rant for my own personal blog. I felt that Hank Willis Thomas’ lecture was extremely relevant to us as students and artists that appreciate his willingness to share his ideas and beginnings with us. His work is truly to be admired.
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