Hank Willis Thomas
Hank Willis Thomas (born USA, 1976) currently lives and works in New York, USA.
He received a BFA from the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University (New York, USA) in 1988 and an MFA and MA from California College of the Arts (San Francisco, USA) in 2004.
Willis Thomas was a Fellow at the Ellen Stone Belic Institute for the Study of Women & Gender in the Arts & Media, Columbia College Chicago (Chicago, USA) in 2012 and was a part of The Fellows Program, W. E. B. DuBois Institute for African and African American Research, Harvard University (Cambridge, USA) in 2011. In 2007 he was awarded a residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts (Paris, France).
Willis Thomas was included in the NYPH’12, New York Photo Festival (New York, USA) in 2012, New Frontier, Sundance Film Festival (Park City) in 2008, and the 12th Istanbul Biennial (Istanbul, Turkey) in 2011.
He has had solo exhibitions at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Corcoran College of Art + Design (Washington, USA) in 2011, the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Johnson County Community College (Kansas City, USA) in 2009, and The Baltimore Museum of Art (Baltimore, USA) in 2009.
Willis Thomas was included in group exhibitions at the MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt am Main (Frankfurt am Main, Germany) in 2012, the Wexner Center for the Arts, The Ohio State University (Columbus, USA) in 2010, and at the High Museum of Art (Atlanta, USA) in 2008.
Willis Thomas’s work is in numerous public and private collections, including the Brooklyn Museum (Brooklyn, USA), The Museum of Modern Art (New York, USA), and the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York, USA).
Terence Nance
Terence Nance (born USA, 1982) currently lives and works in both Brooklyn, USA and in Oakland, USA.
He received a BA from Northwestern University (Evanston, USA) in 2005 and an MFA from New York University (New York, USA) in 2007.
Nance was awarded the Harriet Hale Wooley Scholarship, Foundation des Etats-Unis (Paris, France) in 2008 and an Artists’ Fellowship (Video/Film), New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) (New York, USA) in 2012.
Over 2012, he has screened his film An Oversimplification of Her Beauty (2012) at New Frontier, Sundance Film Festival (Park City, USA), the Brooklyn Museum (Brooklyn, USA), New Directors/New Films, a co-presentation of The Museum of Modern Art (New York, USA) and the Film Society of Lincoln Center, and the International Film Festival Rotterdam (Rotterdam, the Netherlands).
His work has been exhibited in group exhibitions at Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art (Newark, USA) in 2011, the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (New York, USA) in 2011, Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture (Baltimore, USA) in 2011, and the Rush Arts Gallery + Resource Center (New York, USA) in 2010.
“For our film, we traveled to the woods in Maine to put ourselves in a serene environment that would communicate a sense of peacefulness to the viewer. We used the natural elements of the forest (trees, rocks, earth, water and light) to articulate the harmony of the landscape, and the relationship of the earth to the human body as the sustainer of life.
The male characters represent the body in conflict, divided against itself, in what appears to be an unsuccessful attempt to overpower the landscape with brute force. The female characters are the custodians of the forest, observing the males in their struggles, and ultimately relinquishing them from their torment. Peace.”