"Every four years, I catch myself staring at the TV in horror and fear caused by the level of absurdity in the conversations around the political theater,” says Hank Willis Thomas. “It’s so rarely about the issues and with all that’s at stake, it’s really dangerous.” Moved by the prescient political gestures of artists like will.i.am and Shepard Fairey in previous election cycles, Thomas decided—after discussing some ideas with his old photographer friend Eric Gottesman—to face his fears head-on by forming the For Freedoms Super PAC in January. It’s a hat tip to Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s famed 1941 State of the Union address, which laid out the “four essential human freedoms” of speech, to worship, from want, and from fear—and also led to the titular oil paintings (and later posters) by Norman Rockwell.
The For Freedoms exhibition featuring fellow alums Wyatt Gallery (Tisch '97) and Will Steacy (Tisch '03) can currently be seen at the Jack Shainman Gallery in NYC through July 29, 2016.