Hank Willis Thomas and His Retro Reflective Prints
This years, AIMIA | AGO photography contest featured four artists; Liz Johnson Artur, Raymond Boisjoly, Taisuke Koyama, and Hank Willis Thomas. All of the work was beautiful and captivating, however the one that stuck out to me most was Hank Willis Thomas’ photo series. Thomas’s series consisted of reworked press photographs from the Civil Rights Movement and periods of protest. The images include, I Am an American, The St. Augustine Movement, The St. Augustine Movement (En Masse), Turbulence II, The Law of the Land is Our Demand, Race Riot (I), Race Riot (II).
The fascinating aspect of Thomas’ photographs is the interaction asked from the viewer, so I believe it is best to explain it from my personal experience. The photos are held in a dark room, I entered without reading anything about the piece. I looked around and did not see anything. I realized I was catching a glimpse of something silvery on the walls when I looked around at certain angles. My immediate response was to pull out my phone and turn on my flashlight. Upon, turning on my flashlight the photos revealed themselves, illuminating brightly in the dark space.
The photographs themselves are particularly overwhelming, they are bright and crowded as each frame holds a collage of images. Looking from a distance it is hard to interpret anything, thus forcing you to get closer, focus, and pay attention to detail. This is when I realized the photographs were from the Civil Rights Movement by looking at the expressions on people’s faces; police vs civilian, text on store fronts and picket signs, etc. These nuances captivate the viewers and allow them to string together a narrative about the struggle for equal rights was like. The experience is thought-provoking because the viewer becomes a researcher and a witness to the historical and ongoing fight for equal rights in North America. Moreover it makes one realize how closely the events parallel with the political scene right now: the fight for equality is not behind us, it is extremely real and present.
Thomas says the photos in this series are ones he has had trouble looking at, they are moments in American history he finds difficult to wrap his head around. The experience is first confrontational and then explorative in nature. The idea of making the viewer recreate these images in a darkroom is effective in capturing people’s attention, because on their own they would simply be old newspaper photographs. This interaction begins the process of critical thought and engagement. In an interview, Thomas explains it is the artists’ responsibility to bring back images lost in the cultural memory and give them a new contemporary identity by putting them in a greater context between the past and present.
The interaction asked from the viewer has semantic connection to the message being conveyed, “the past may not be visible, but is always present.” The white photographs are hardly visible over the white walls, but by illuminating these pictures we are confronted with vivid images of historical events that are easily forgotten. The piece ends up telling us to reflect on the connection between past and present.
