Hank Willis Thomas: We Shall Not Be Moved

Hank Willis Thomas is one of my favorite artists, and ‘We Shall Not Be Moved’ is one of my most beloved pieces, along with his ‘America.’ Both are currently on display at The Broad.

This is a bloody piece — screenprint on reflective vinyl that photographs differently with and without flash — wherein flash photography changes its bright colors into various shades of blood … dried and weathered by hatred.

It is never lost on me how art, some seemingly simplistic, holds the power to convey messages so complex or how those messages resonate with a soul — not just in that first moment of contact but in the years that follow. HWT’s artistic commentary on the everlasting state of the human experience does that for me. Every. Single. Time.