This fall, photographer Hank Willis Thomas ‘98 (BFA, Photography & Africana Studies) has been to 10 university campuses from Savanah to College Park. Hank says the students he has met seem more aware of current events, threats and dangers than ever before.
“I was learning how to make friends and how to get to class on time,” Hank said of his first year at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. That was in the early 1990s.
Now, Hank returns to the Tisch School for its Day of Community on Oct. 21 for “Love Overrules”, a conversation he will have with Deborah Willis Ph.D., University Professor and Chair of the Department of Photography and Imaging. In addition to being a noted art photographer and one of the nation’s leading historians on African American photographer and curator of African American culture, Deb also is Hank’s mother.
Hank credits his mother as one his biggest artistic influences, and has quickly amassed a body of work that includes photography, conceptual sculpture and public performance that has been seen in museums around the world. He also co-founded For Freedoms, the first artist-run super PAC, to use art to inspire deeper political engagement for citizens who want to have a greater impact on the American political landscape.
Hank said “Love Overrules” will be about a community trying more for an intersection than a division.
“We are concerned that people learn how to love. If we talk about love more, that will overrule adversity,” Deb said.
Truth, Hank said, is unique. “There will always be different perspectives. Rather than fighting, we should bring more truths out there. We need to focus on what unites us rather than what divides us.”
With the 2016 presidential election weeks away, Hank noted that 100 years ago women were fighting for voting rights, and today a woman is a nominee for a major political party.
“The values we hold today will not be the same we hold 100 years from now,” Hank said. “It’s upon us to get off on the right start.”
“Love Overrules” will be presented at the Tisch School of the Arts Day of Community, 5 p.m, Oct. 21 at Town Hall, 123 W. 43rd Street, New York, NY. The event is open only to students, faculty and staff at NYU Tisch School of the Arts.