September 16, 2026 - January 2027
Opening Reception: September 16, 5:30pm. Free w/ RSVP
Ford Foundation Live Gallery
219 W 19th Street, New York, NY 10011
Trained as a photographer, Hank Willis Thomas has long been fascinated with the framing and context of images. Across his practice, Thomas regularly appropriates archival images – reinterpreting or recontextualizing them using new or rarely used technical processes. Viewers are often prompted to shift their position or use a tool to experience the entirety of an artwork. For instance, in his retroreflective series, viewers activate them with a camera flash to reveal the latent image, thereby stepping into the role of image maker. In both form and content, this series reveals multiple ways to look at a given historical moment or subject.
In the case of these three works, Thomas sourced archival photographs taken in the 1940s for the U.S. Office of War Information and the U.S. War Relocation Authority, depicting schoolchildren reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Many of the students featured appear to be of Japanese descent.
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