Artist Mickalene Thomas wrestles with notions of Black beauty, female empowerment and love

American artist Mickalene Thomas sensually subverts Black female representation throughout history in works that draw on an eclectic roster of references. Now, her major new touring exhibition, ‘Mickalene Thomas: All About Love’, featuring more than 80 works created over the last 20 years, nods to Thomas’ desire to imbue the sensual and sensitive figures she portrays with a joyful positivity, with a title referencing feminist author bell hooks’ canonic text of the same title.

‘I am constantly drawing inspiration from representations of intergenerational female empowerment, autobiography, memory and the tenets of Black feminist theoretical writings,’ says Thomas. ‘Authors and academics such as Kimberlé Crenshaw and Patricia Hill Collins have always provided supportive context for my work, in particular, and of course, bell hooks.’ These broad references are reflected in the multidisciplinary nature of the works themselves, which utilise a mix of materials in her distinctive collage style. ‘Collage is such an intricate means of discovery and exploration of all my ideas,’ she says. ‘It’s a way to learn and unlearn within my own process, and a way to anchor and make sense of my compositions. I enjoy rebuilding and the essential peeling back of layers to get to the core of my ideas. Collage does this for me.’

Featured works include large-scale pieces in acrylic and rhinestones, the latter symbolising the complexity of femininity for Thomas. Their sheer physicality, and the powerful self-possession of the subject, challenge the viewer to engage with the Black woman who stands boldly in front of her domestic environment. ‘I have always had larger-than-life visions for my work. I want the viewer to walk into the work and not be able to divert their gaze. These domestic environments mostly come from my childhood, modelled after my mother’s home from the 1970s. Everything from the placement of lamps to the textures on the sofas that my models sit on are meant to evoke a narrative and a shared womanly experience that is recalled as a child.’ 

Works on show here intertwine these references to her childhood with an early desire to assert herself, expressed in the recreation of the Wrestling series, originally exhibited at LA’s Vielmetter gallery in 2007. Self-portraits, but also about womanhood more generally, they capture animal-print-clad female wrestlers mid-struggle, expressing the tension between aggression and affection in her characteristic joyful clash of patterns. ‘The images were born out of a desire to assert myself and stake a claim in the white male-dominated industry,’ says Thomas.

This exploration of intimacy can be traced back to earlier works on display, including in 2003’s triptych Lounging, Standing, Looking. Marking the beginning of her career, Thomas photographed her mother while a student at Yale School of Art. ‘I was asked to photograph someone I had a complicated relationship with,’ she says. ‘It started with how I saw myself in my mother as a young queer that idealised her sensuality and beauty. [This work] allowed me to understand the dynamic histories of mother and child.’ 

Painting and photography join Thomas’ main techniques of silkscreen and collage at the show, with her signature layering evident in works such as Portrait of Maya No. 10 (2017), which stands at an imposing 8ft tall. Other mediums, such as video collages, include 2016’s Angelitos Negros, a tribute to Eartha Kitt, who sang songs that lamented the absence of Black angels in art history.

Lack of representation is an issue Thomas addresses throughout, most notably in her seductive recontextualising of Black female erotica. ‘By repurposing these images, I wanted to celebrate female sexuality by placing these women at the forefront. These images have inspired my long exploration of Jet magazine’s beauties of the week. This exhibition expands on my existing series of collages that reference the status of Jet calendars within the history of African American art while challenging society’s traditional notions of beauty, erotica and sensuality.’ By pairing these references with reconstructions of Henri Matisse and Édouard Manet’s figurative 19th-century paintings, Thomas challenges long-upheld oppressive Western narratives.

Ultimately, Thomas’ work celebrates Black women, with the figures Amazonian in their strength and independence. ‘I’ll always come back to the place of love. I think I make all my work from a place of love, joy, leisure and celebration, and a desire to see positive images. That’s still true even with the more complicated images I’ve made about the civil rights movement of the present day, about Black Lives Matter and brutality against Black bodies. There’s a desire in those to survive and make change and be heard, to have a voice and be understood.’ 

‘Mickalene Thomas: All About Love’ and 'Linder: Danger Came Smiling' are both at the Hayward Gallery from 11 February to 5 May, southbankcentre.co.uk

A version of this article appears in the May 2024 issue of Wallpaper*, available in print from 11 April, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today