About the Work
Continuing Hank Willis Thomas’ exploration of themes related to identity, history, and popular culture, Duality represents a call to “loving action” to inspire mutual understanding and positive solutions. Using simple, universal gestures and the power of the human figure, Duality aligns with his celebrated permanent artworks including Unity, at the Brooklyn Bridge in New York and, and Raise Up, at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, AL.
This artwork is part of the collection of Miami-Dade County Art in Public Places program, made possible with the support of the Art in Public Places Trust, the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners. | Miamidadepublicart.org, miamidadearts.org
Support
This artwork was made possible through a donation from Debi and Jeffrey Wechsler, the Braman Family Foundation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Hank Willis Thomas
b. 1976 Plainfield, New Jersey, U.S.
Hank Willis Thomas lives and works in Brooklyn, NY as a conceptual artist working primarily with themes related to perspective, identity, commodity, media, and popular culture. His work has been exhibited throughout the United States and abroad including the International Center of Photography, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Musée du quai Branly, Hong Kong Arts Centre and the Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art.
His collaborative projects include Question Bridge: Black Males, In Search Of The Truth (The Truth Booth), The Writing on the Wall, and For Freedoms. In 2017, For Freedoms was awarded the ICP Infinity Award for New Media and Online Platform. Thomas is a recipient of the Gordon Parks Foundation Fellowship (2019), The Guggenheim Fellowship (2018), AIMIA | AGO Photography Prize (2017), Soros Equality Fellowship (2017), Aperture West Book Prize (2008), Renew Media Arts Fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation (2007), and the New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship Award (2006).
Most recently in January 2023, Thomas unveiled The Embrace on Boston Common, a monument to Dr. Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King. Additional public artworks across the country include “Unity” in Brooklyn, NY. In 2017, “Love Over Rules” permanent neon was unveiled in San Francisco, CA and “All Power to All People” in Opa Locka, FL. Thomas holds a B.F.A. from New York University, New York, NY (1998) and an M.A./M.F.A. from the California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA (2004). He received honorary doctorates from the Maryland Institute of Art, Baltimore, MD and the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts, Portland, ME in 2017.