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| Photo from twitter #gbcma - Thomas taking a photo of audience before his talk |
One of my favorite places to visit is the Cleveland Museum of Art. As I have written in so many posts, I volunteer for various posts including the first Friday MIX events and new exhibit openings, just to name a few. Yesterday was different. I visited as a patron to listen to the talented photographer, videographer and conceptual artist – Hank Willis Thomas discuss his work. He began his talk by pulling out his smart phone and told the audience to do the same. “I want to take a photo of you, the audience taking a photo of me on stage.” Please use the “hashtag, #qbcma and if you don’t know what I’m talking about, then forget what I just said, Hank eloquently said. I was very impressed; he’s a dynamic speaker and a very confident artist where his work comes from many directions and mediums. It is hard to exactly pin down what his work is – what I love most is how intelligent his ideas are that keeps the viewer constantly thinking.
My favorite Hank Willis Thomas’ work, however, is his video installation, “Question Bridge.” Recently, I posted a tweet informing my followers that I am volunteering at the Transformer Station and there is a good crowd listening to “Question Bridge: Black Males.” A few days later, Hank Willis Thomas “favored” my tweet. How cool is that! As I listened to his talk, I found out that’s one of his favorite collaborative pieces as well. It is hard to describe how powerful this work is – a black male asks a question then a diverse group of black males respond to the question. It cycles between different males that either respond or ask deep rooted questions.These males are diverse within the black male community and they deliver these answers that you wouldn’t think they would say. It will blow you away as you listen to the responses.
Thomas showed the “Question Bridge” as part of his talk where the question was something about being imprisoned; I can’t remember the exact question. The answer came from a gentleman who was in prison and the response blew me away. He talked how everyone is in prison in some way or another. He talked about his situation that he didn’t have self esteem, therefore, he did bad things. Hence, what ultimately landed him in jail. Some people are in prison within themselves where they lack confidence or let others persuade you from doing what you know deep down is wrong. I am paraphrasing but ultimately that is what I got out of his response – a profound, powerful statement.
Another question that I remember at the Transformer Station installation is “What does it mean to be a man?” a young boy asked. Again, the answers were diverse depending on age, educational background and circumstances of the respondent. I only listened to twenty minutes and I will stop back and listen to the entire 3-hour loop.
The other dynamic piece at the Transformer Station is the role of African American males in sports. Thomas played with the idea of large companies making an exorbitant amount of money using male athletes by selling sneakers, for example. One photograph is a male basketball player hanging by a noose. Obviously the noose is slavery but today’s basketball is using these athletes to make money – a ton of it. That is what I got out of the photo – enslaving athletes to a degree to sell “stuff.” Michael Jordan was it for Hanes® and LeBron James for that matter, Nike®. It’s images such as these that keep you thinking about society, pop culture and how we’ve evolved from the 1960s Civil Rights Era to President Obama’s election. We’ve come a long way but I think we have a ways to go. Hank even mentioned in his talk, we aren’t black and white any longer – what about other people such as Asians and Hispanics – we are all more a coffee color.
The other installation piece is the “Truth Booth” that has been traveling around Cleveland where you answer the question, “What is Truth.” Most recently, the booth was in Afghanistan and a girl talked about how bad it is in her country; how nobody cares (I am paraphrasing). Genius installation in how we can bring everyone together on a global scale. What are the issues people are struggling with or what is on their mind as they walk into the booth? I haven’t walked in yet. I keep racking my brain what I want to say; I don’t want to sound stupid. Quite frankly, I’m shy and I’m not sure what I really want to say. Will I do it before the exhibit leaves on March 9, stay tuned?
At the end of the lecture someone said that I though was an interesting take on Thomas’ work, “It is about people.” Very astute – what are black males thinking in Question Bridge? What are we thinking – truth! How advertising is taking advantage of black athletes, and the conversation goes on and on.
The Hank Willis Thomas show is at the Transformer Station until March 8, 2014 and the “Unbranded” series at the Cleveland Museum of Art until March 9. I highly recommend seeing both.
Transformer Station
http://transformerstation.org/
Cleveland Museum of Art
http://www.clevelandart.org/events/exhibitions/hank-willis-thomas
