An amazing campaign with For Freedoms, Iranian artists Sheida Soleimani, Aphrodite Désirée Navab, Z, Icy and Sot, Shirin Neshat, Mahvash Mostala, Sepideh Mehraban, and Shirin Towfiq, alongside Hank Willis Thomas and JR, activated New York’s FDR Four Freedoms State Park with a provocative multi-day and multi-media art installation facing the United Nations entitled 

. Timed for the U.N. Women’s initiative, 

16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence

, the arresting site-specific installations were focused on the power of collective sight, with eyes facing the UN and signifying the world’s eyes on Iran. The large-scale artworks were unveiled on November 28th. ‘Eyes in the Sky’ flying billboards featuring artworks by Hank Willis Thomas and Mahvash flew on December 3rd in NYC and in Miami on November 28th and 30th. In addition, an interactive installation by artist JR took place on December 4th at FDR Four Freedoms State Park. 

, a campaign demanding that the Islamic Republic of Iran is removed from the Commission on the Status of Women.

On November 28th, 2022 an event to mark the unveiling featured former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Human Rights Lawyer and director of the Strategic Litigation Project at the Atlantic Council Gissou Nia, artists Sheida Soleimani and Shirin Neshat, actor and singer Sepideh Moafi at FDR Four Freedoms State Park with a performance by Jon Batiste.

‘’We are calling on the world to take more action, starting at the United Nations. We must remove Iran from the U.N.’s Commission on the Status of Women. The fact that Iran is a member is a bitter irony,” says Clinton. “What we are seeing is a revolution led by young women who are just not willing to live with the loss of freedom being imposed upon them.”

November 28th, which marked the activation at FDR Four Freedoms State Park, is also the anniversary of the 1943 Tehran Conference where Allied leaders, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin met in Tehran to coordinate the Allied military strategy and also significantly stated a shared desire for the maintenance of the independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of Iran. 

 shares a similar call for human rights for the women and people of Iran.

“The world’s eyes have been focused on the courage of Iranian citizens in their quest for freedom, in the face of increasingly grave danger,” states human rights activist Nazanin Afshin-Jam Mackay. “The Islamic Republic has censored them and attempted to blind the world to the potential of this movement. 

is our response to their call for a free Iran. The world must keep our eyes on the brave citizens of Iran and open to the possibility of justice. We must keep our eyes on the UN in our call to remove the Islamic Republic of Iran from the Commission on the Status of Women in the face of their brutal repression.”

This activation was a partnership between For Freedoms, a coalition of Iranian women leaders, and Vital Voices Global Partnership, a non-profit elevating women leaders. As they entered into the third month of worldwide protests launched and led by Iranian women and girls after the tragic death of 22-year-old 

, more than 300 protesters have reportedly died, and nearly 15,000 have been jailed, while reports of extreme punishments and harsh crackdowns against protestors by Iranian authorities have flooded international headlines.

“When we say that we must keep our “Eyes on Iran,” we mean that what is happening deserves not only our attention but our vision. In solidarity with the courageous Iranians who are risking their lives to express their human rights, many artists throughout the diaspora and beyond are bringing our vision to bear to ensure international audiences and institutions remain aware of what is happening in Iran, in their eyes and in their hearts, and feel moved to respond.” - Shirin Neshat


On October 30th, 2022, the coalition launched a two-page spread in 

 showcasing a petition signed by women leaders from more than 14 countries, including three former first ladies, demanding the United Nations remove the Islamic Republic of Iran from the Commission on the Status of Women. Within days of launching the letter and

, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Prime Minister Jacinda

 signed the petition and vowed to continue exerting pressure on the issue. United States Vice President Kamala Harris has also 

her support of the initiative. The letter, with now nearly 100,000 signatures, also points out the Islamic Republic of Iran’s record on women’s rights, citing gender inequality and legalized discrimination against women regarding marriage, divorce, inheritance, child custody cases and attire. These restrictions include the mandate that requires women to wear head coverings at the onset of puberty.

On December 14th, Member states voted YES and made history.

This effort strives to combine the power of public advocacy and public art as a means of movement building:

Participating artists Icy and Sot add that, “No words can describe the violence people in Iran are going through but the love for freedom has defeated fear. Their courage and resistance is outstanding and inspiring the world. Winning is the only option and it's around the corner.

Members of the public were invited to see the installation online or 

. Additional artists are featured in an online gallery featuring Emily Elise, Mahdis Nikou, Priscillia Kounkou Hoveydam, Ernesto Yerena Hourdad, Golnar Adili, and additional Anonymous Artists.

New York State Parks Commissioner Erik Kulleseid said, “Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms State Park reminds us that the human freedoms voiced by President Roosevelt in 1941 remain vital and relevant today. We are proud to host the “Eyes on Iran” public art installation at the park, and help draw attention to the continued struggle for equal rights across the globe.”

Coinciding with the event was For Freedoms News edition at Untitled Art Miami, an installation and performance featuring a Special Report: 

, alongside Flying Billboards ‘Eyes in the Sky’ on South Beach and NYC. Reporting live to Miami Art Week from Four Freedoms State Park November 28-December 3rd, 2022.



Woman Life Freedom #EyesonIran

 is a news program as well as a live art installation, performance, and conversation from the For Freedoms ecosystem for creative civic participation in advance of the 2022 midterm elections. The artist-led reimagining of television news was presented during a residency at the Brooklyn Museum in the fall of 2022.

Three years ago, hopeful at the possibility of expanding the nuance in how media reports issues important to our communities, For Freedoms came up with the idea of starting its own artist-run media channel. When the Brooklyn Museum invited us to be in residence during the lead-up to the midterms, we rushed to make it happen.

Brooklyn Museum will be the first of several events where FFNEWS will occur, including the Untitled Art Fair in Miami in December 2022 and the LA Music Center in 2023.

For Freedoms News 

with an issue that explores the magazine’s past while charting its future. Reflecting on the founding editors’ original mission and drawing on Aperture’s global community of photographers, writers, and thinkers, this issue features original commissions by seven artists and essays by seven of the most incisive writers working today—each engaging with their chosen decade from the magazine’s history. Hank creates from the 2010s in textile-inspired digital quilts, a vibrant tribute to artists and mentors.

“Sometimes I see myself as visual culture archeologist or DJ. All of my work it’s bout framing and context. With this project I decided to remix images from Aperture's last decade of issues, collaborating from peers, mentors, and image makers I've long admired. The artworks in these articles are layered and multi-faced. I wanted to merge and remix them through digital collage to create a pastiche image that would highlight the layers and dynamism and complexity. This process of image weaving these images has been revelatory. Through this blending I was able to engage more intimately with images, the subject and the journey of the image maker.” - Hank

Aperture's 70th Anniversary Collaboration

To celebrate 75 years of the NBA, Bleacher invited Hank, among four other artists, to create works of art inspired by the league. Each artist created original works along with a set of artist editions (each limited to 75) and apparel inspired by their artworks. The original artworks were presented in a New York exhibition curated by artist Sue Tsai. 

, is an artwork and printed blanket edition by Hank Willis Thomas inspired by the 75th anniversary of the NBA, honoring the historical legacy, while also interrogating the sports world. The quilt based work is connected to recurring motifs throughout his practice: sports’ symbiotic relationship with globalization and nationalism, and the historic and contemporary commodification of a homogeneous Black male identity. The individuals that populate the sport industry in the United States are the descendants of slaves. Some historians believe that quilt patterns were used by Abolitionists to send coded messages to slaves escaping north to freedom. The multi billion dollar industry is run by white overseers, yet the athletes are not paid and scholarships are conditional based on physical condition, academic eligibility, personal conduct. The piece is an extension of the idea buying and selling of bodies in slavery with the trading of bodies in sports.

“I was in graduate school, and I was reading a book called Michael Jordan and the New Global Capitalism (1999)” says Thomas. “It talked about how Nike went from being a $10 million company when he signed, to being a $10 billion company 20 years later… I was thinking about black bodies. Bodies like his would have been traded on a market at a different period in time. Now when these bodies are traded today, I was thinking about how much money is made from them. So we go from slaves being branded as a sign of ownership, to black bodies today being branded as a way to make money.”

The quilt reminds us that combative team sports are proxies for armed conflict. Thomas also draws attention to the role modern gladiators can play as voices for social justice: "[athletes] are not supposed to be political. They're supposed to do their job. They don't get paid for speaking. If [Muhammad] Ali, if Jim Brown, if Paul Robeson hadn't spoken, what would the world look like?"

NBA 75th × Bleacher Report

In collaboration with Hank Willis Thomas Studio, Sacai celebrates those who have broken the rules to defy society’s expectations, regardless of race, culture or gender. No matter who or where you are in life, you can always apply 

. The collection is presented in a powerful two-part campaign created by Hank and Equator Productions, focusing on community through portrait photography and film. A handful of artists were invited, including jazz trumpeter Keyon Harrold; movement artist Mizuho Kappa; artist Zoë Buckman; designer and advocate Celine Semaan Vernon; jazz pianist Jason Moran; and artist and activist Chella Man, as well as Thomas himself and his wife, curator Rujeko Hockley. In the campaign film, the participants shared what "Love Over Rules" means to them.

In honor of the collection, longstanding supporter and retail partner Bergdorf Goodman will celebrate Sacai's partnership with Thomas in its iconic store windows on Fifth Avenue starting Monday, January 18 to coincide with Martin Luther King Day. The collection is available in store and online at Bergdorf Goodman.

Hank Willis Thomas x Sacai 

The Wide Awakes collaborated with Black Thought (Tariq Trotter) featuring The Last Artful, Dodger and Portugal, The Man, in a video artwork highlighting the Wide Awakes community and 

Black Thought x Wide Awakes

In collaboration with Hank Willis Thomas Studio, 

 has developed a new ready-to-wear capsule harnessed by two phrases, “It’s All About You” and “It’s Not About You.” Taken from Hank’s lenticular text-based work he produced in 2010, the clothes attempt to mimic the way the phrase switches from one to the other depending on where you’re standing, therefore changing what you see. Helmut Lang achieves this by making clothes from a special sheer mesh fabric that constructs hoodies, tops, and dresses that have been printed with the phrases on the front and on the reverse of the inside, which is a nod to Helmut Lang’s SS04 Reverse Cowboy T-Shirt. They’re semi-transparent, meaning each piece is a statement in itself aside from the lenticular words printed on to them. Fifteen percent of the proceeds from the collection will be donated to Incarceration Nations Network, “a think-tank that concentrates on innovative prison reform efforts around the world.”

“At a moment when we are all being called to examine our own privileges and biases; this project compels us to think about how our position literally affects what we see.” Speaking on this more, Thomas added, “Art has the power to shift people’s perspective… My role as an artist is to wake people up, and I often use language as a tool to do this. I see this collaboration with Helmut Lang as an extension of my artistic practice exploring advertising and the ubiquity of messaging.” - Hank

Hank Willis Thomas x Helmut Lang

 have collaborated in a series of public art activations in London accompanied by pair of print editions from Hank and Christine Wong Yap. The collaboration represents the first appearance of For Freedoms’ emblematic billboards outside of the US, as well as the first time artworks from their campaigns have been realized in edition form.

 demands profound self-reflection from its viewer, reprising Thomas’ billboard design from For Freedoms’ 2020 Awakening Campaign. The 9-layer screen print artwork stages direct comparison with corporate advertising aesthetics, investigating the loaded intersections of identity, collective consciousness and consumerism. Art, for Hank, is a means to visualise a message. His expansive practice layers history and image to show that anything is possible when motivated by love.

“Placing images in the public that are designed to encourage critical thinking and uplift joy and celebration is paramount to us. We believe that art is a tool for social change and inner meditation.” – Hank Willis Thomas

Hank Willis Thomas x Avant Arte

In collaboration with Tremaine Emory of Denim Tears and Converse, Hank and For Freedoms created a 

 to encapsulate 2020’s historical perspective and action-oriented immediacy. The campaign included the Converse collaborative shoe alongside a poster campaign called 

“The Future Is Yours. Vote.” by ICNCLST

 focused on swing states intending to increase voting awareness and civic engagement in the Black creative community, and every other marginalized community pushed down by the ills of our current society.

In Emory’s words, “the plight of African-Americans has been the same since the first slave ship, the White Lion, came to Virginia in the year 1619,” he says. Despite the shift in the larger cultural conversation in the wake of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd’s deaths, the design - a version of the Pan-African flag - remains as powerful and relevant as ever. “The flag, the meaning, it doesn't mean more, and it doesn't mean less,” he explains. “It's always at its apex, the meaning of it. But I understand totally why it's become a beacon of light and banner of rebellion and resistance against the ills of the world.”

Denim Tears / For Freedoms / Converse “The Future is Y/Ours. Vote.”

 to create the March 2, 2020 cover featuring a portrait of Martin Luther King Jr. Made in January in Los Angeles, Hank photographed actor Ty Brittingham, who served as a stand-in for King. Using this footage and utilizing the posing and lighting, a team of digital human experts at studio Digital Domain reach a digital re-creation of King from The March —the work of a diverse team of VFX artists who were tasked with showing the civil rights leader exactly as he looked on the day of Aug. 28, 1963. The cover featured a two dimensional rendering of figure.

“The session itself was a learning process…when we got approached to do this kind of groundbreaking portrait of one of our heroes, Martin Luther King Jr., who has been inspiring us for decades, I was super excited,” he says. “There were a lot of unknowns about the technology, about how you can do digital face mapping to produce images. It was a really amazing kind of learning experience for everyone involved.”

“The shoot wonderfully captured Hank’s collaborative approach to making art,” TIME’s director of photography Katherine Pomerantz said.