2024/25 Harman/Eisner Artist in Residence

2024/25 Harman/Eisner Artist in Residence
Hank Willis Thomas

Photo of artist Hank Willis Thomas sitting on a stool in front of a yellow background.

Credit: Jai Lennard
Hank Willis Thoams will serve as the Aspen Institute Arts Program 2024/25 Harman/Eisner Artist in Residence. In this role, Thomas will offer his artistic vision to various Policy Programs, events, leadership activities and more in Aspen, New York, Washington D.C., and elsewhere.
“I’m excited to collaborate with an organization that is asking the same critical questions about our society and humanity as I am in my work,” said Hank Willis Thomas, “I’m looking forward to driving essential conversations with this diverse group of changemakers.”

Thomas is a conceptual artist working primarily with themes related to perspective, identity, commodity, media, and popular culture. His work has been exhibited globally and includes public artworks including The Embrace, honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King, Boston, MA; REACH in collaboration with Coby Kennedy at O’Hare Airport, Chicago IL; and Opportunity (Reflection), commissioned by the NFL. His collaborative projects include The Truth Booth; The Writing on the Wall; The Gun Violence Memorial Project; and For Freedoms, an artist-led organization that models and increases creative civic engagement, discourse, and direct action.

Later this year the next public art installment of The Gun Violence Memorial Project will be traveling to Boston, MA. Previous locations included the National Building Museum, Washington D.C. and the Chicago Architecture Biennial. The Memorial was conceived by MASS Design Group and conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas in partnership with gun violence prevention organizations Purpose Over Pain and Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund.