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Meditation by Kara Michelle Pierson, Lilac & Indigo LLC. Filmed by Biz Young.

 

Thomas’s work calls on individuals to see the conditions of the present and the past, and to envision a future in which every person is recognized in full. Do others see and honor your whole self? Do you?

The bottom line of Thomas’s artwork, I Am. Amen., can be read as a poetic affirmation of existence. If you were to take a deep breath, open your heart, and momentarily suspend fear, what would the bottom line of your own I Am. Amen. say?

If it is safe for you to share your response publicly, please post on social media using the hashtag #hankwillisthomas and tag the Cincinnati Art Museum.

Hank Willis Thomas' I Am. Amen. A series of twenty prints in bold lettering with various phrases such as: I am a man, I be a man, A man am I, and so forth

Hank Willis Thomas (American, born 1976), I Am. Amen., 2009. Liquitex on canvas, 25 1/4 × 19 × 1/4 × 2 1/4 inches each. Installation view. Collection of Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University. Image courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York. © Hank Willis Thomas