TIME spoke with alum Hank Willis Thomas (BFA Photography '98) for their ongoing video series, "First Take," about his creative process and the nature of imagemaking.
"Whoever is holding the frame is actually creating the story," he says in the video featured on TIME.com's Lightbox photography blog. From the article accompanying the video:
Thomas’s life work focuses on identity, commodity, media, and popular culture. His advertising mockups, which often incorporate recognizable icons into his work from well-known brands, question generalizations developed around race, gender and ethnicity