Photographer Hank Willis Thomas–the first ever recipient of the Aperture West Book Prize–along with Chris Johnson, Bayeté Ross Smith and Kamal Sinclair,  spent the last several years traveling cross-country, collecting video interviews from hundreds of black males across a wide range of socio-economic strata. Now on display at the Brooklyn Museum and four other locations around the country, Question Bridge: Black Males, weaves 1500 video exchanges by 150 men from 12 different cities who have never met into a wildly innovative “stream of consciousness dialogue,” across multiple screens and platforms.  Elements of chance, spontaneity and audience participation work to deconstruct dominant stereotypes of black males in the collective consciousness.  Jesse Williams, their Executive Producer, discusses this project and the prospect of future Question Bridges in an interview with Indiewire.

Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway
Brooklyn, NY 11238

Exhibition on view:
Now through Sunday, June 3, 2012

Oakland Museum of California
1000 Oak Street
Oakland, CA 94607

Exhibition on view:
Now thru Sunday, July 8, 2012

City Gallery at Chastain
135 West Wieuca Road, N.W.
Atlanta, Georgia 30342

Exhibition on view:
January 27 – March 17, 2012

Sundance Film Festival 2012
1825 3 Kings Dr
Park City, Utah 84060

Exhibition on view:
Now thru January 29, 2012

Utah Museum of Contemporary Art
20 S. West Temple
Salt Lake City, Utah

Exhibition on view:
Now thru May 19, 2012

This monumental transmedia installation is not Thomas’ first exploration of the crisis of black male identity in the United States. His deeply personal, grim, but darkly humorous first monograph Pitch Blackness brought him wide recognition as one of the most compelling artists emerging today. A limited edition print of his 2011 photograph, After Identity, What? is now available for purchase at Aperture.

Join Aperture West Prize-winner Hank Willis Thomas and his mother, artist and scholar Debra Willis, in discussion with curator Kalia Brooks, coinciding with the opening of Progeny at Columbia University’s Wallach Art Gallery. The exhibition, consisting of 48 photographs and 2 videos produced independently and together, focuses on concepts surrounding the influence of family, history, and memory as relevant in artistic expression.

Progeny
Panel Discussion: Wednesday, April 29, 4:30 pm

Opening Reception: Wednesday, April 29, 5:30 pm

Exhibition on view: Thursday, April 30—Saturday, June 6, 2009
Miriam & Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery
Columbia University
826 Schermerhorn Hall, MC5517
1190 Amsterdam Avenue
New York, New York
(212) 854-7288

Click here to purchase Pitch Blackness, Hank Willis Thomas’ first monograph.

Click here to purchase a limited-edition print from Hank Willis Thomas.

Artist Hank Willis Thomas celebrated a great week last week, starting off with his work being on the cover of New York Magazine, which featured his illustration of Barack Obama and getting to look at advance copies of his first monograph, Pitch Blackness, which will be released by Aperture in October 2008. Hank Willis Thomas was selected as the winner of the first Aperture West Book Prize, an Aperture initiative announced in January 2007 to raise awareness of Western-based photographers in the United States. The artist has gained wide recognition with his highly provocative series B®ANDED, which addresses the commodification of African-American male identity by raising questions about visual culture and the power of logos. The monograph is a virtual tour-de-force which visually deals with the senseless murder of the artist’s young cousin Songha Willis, the issues of grief, black-on-black violence in America and the ways in which corporate culture is complicit in the crises of black male identity and culminating in his latest series Unbranded- in which Willis Thomas examines advertising and media representation of African-Americans. Hank Willis Thomas is one of the most compelling emerging artists of today and we are pleased to let our devoted blog readers know that we will be introducing a print by Hank in our limited-edition photographs program. Stay tuned! For additional information on the artist you can view his website.