Unbranded (2005-2008)
"Unbranded: Reflections in Black by Corporate America, 1968-2008" is a series of images appropriated from magazine advertisements that are marketed towards an African-American audience or feature black subjects. This project features two ads for every year from 1968 -- the year Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated-- through 2008. Thomas has digitally removed the text and logos; no other part of the image has been altered. By 'unbranding' these advertisements the artist literally exposes what Roland Barthes refers to as "what-goes-without-saying" in ads, in hopes of encouraging viewers to look harder and think more deeply about how advertising reinforces generalizations surrounding race, gender and cultural identity.