A permanent memorial for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King for the city of Boston, The Boston Foundation, and Embrace Boston In collaboration with Mass Design Group.

When we recognize that all storytelling is an abstraction, all representation is an abstraction, hopefully it allows us to be open to more dynamic and complex forms of representation that don’t stick us to narrative that oversimplifies a person or their legacy, and I think this work really tries to get to the heart of that. — Hank Willis Thomas

, will be anchored on Boston Common, where, in 1965, Dr. King called Boston to live by its highest ideals. The Common, America’s first public park, has a vibrant 400-year-old history and a tradition of civic gatherings. The new memorial will spark a new public conversation about how to advance racial and social justice in Boston today.

When it is dedicated the Embrace will provide a living space for conversation, education, and reflection on the racial and economic justice ideals of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King, and serve as a permanent monument to the Kings’ time in Boston, a period in which they met and fell in love, and which helped shape their approach to a just and equitable society.

By highlighting the act of embrace, this sculpture shifts the emphasis from a singular hero worship to collective action, imploring those curious enough to investigate closer. Located at a crossroads in the Common, the landscape around the memorial reinforces the need for collective action inspired by love. The northern space faces the Capitol Building, the Shaw Memorial, and the Black Freedom trail. The southern space embraces the Parkman Bandstand where King addressed the commons on April 23, 1965, with Dudley Square and the education center out of site, but directionally aligned. Each space can accommodate various activities and levels of engagement.

Boston Common

The Embrace

"A connection point and large-scale gesture that inspires us to come together,” was Hank Willis Thomas and Coby Kennedy's inspiration behind their grandiose sculpture REACH. Now at home in O’Hare International Airport, the larger than life sculpture by Thomas and Kennedy consists of two arms, approximately 27 and 31 feet long, suspended between nine and 34 feet off the ground in the North Escalator Hall of the Multi-Modal Facility. Viewers approaching the three-story hall through the tunnel from the public lobby will see a massive beckoning hand overhead and a second hand, seemingly inches from embracing the former. The colossal work was commissioned by the Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA) and Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE), and is part of the Expo Chicago fair's programme for large-scale and site-specific works. Drawing inspiration from Thomas's Punctum series, REACH zeros in on the mere moment before two hands touch as a reminder of togetherness and connectivity in a location where many bid each other farewell.

O’Hare International Airport

REACH

Permanently installed at the Miami Underline, Duality extends its arm and triumphantly displays its two fingers. The positioning of the fingers can be interpreted as a "V" for victory, a fun peace sign, or a vulgar insult.

 As a continuation of Thomas's other gesture related works, Duality draws inspiration from his Puctum series, a concept that stemmed from French philosopher Roland Barthes’s idea of "the punctum." Thomas utilizes "the punctum" as a foundation as he isolates a specific area of an image and re-presents it as sculpture, encouraging a shift of focus resulting in an ambiguous interpretation of its meaning. 

Duality represents a call to “loving action” to inspire mutual understanding and positive solutions. Aligning with his other celebrated permanent artworks including Unity, at the Brooklyn Bridge in New York and, and Raise Up, at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, AL Duality reaches up and welcomes viewers to evaluate their personal interpretations of matter presented to them.

Miami Underline

Duality 

A permanent installation on the East and West entrances of the new Judkins Park Station, the first in Seattle’s Central District and part of Central Puget Sound Transit Authority (Sound Transit).

These two photomurals both center Jimi Hendrix, in his youth and later in life at the peak of his fame, highlighting the importance of his legacy as well as his personal connection and impact on Seattle and the surrounding neighborhood. The images in use were provided by Janie Hendrix (Jimi Hendrix’ star) from the Hendrix Archives.

Created in porcelain enamel and a lenticular-like bronze - anodized panels, both murals are rendered in a halftone pattern in which the image will read as sharp and cohesive from a distance and as abstract and reflective when viewed up close. Inspired by rarely seen photographs and the interactions between identity, commerce and media, Hank continues to explore how history informs notions of place and identity through different perspectives.

Judkins Park Station

Crosstown Traffic (It's So Hard To Get Through To You)

The Black Civil War Soldier: A Visual History of Conflict and Citizenship (Remember me)

 is on view on the facade of the historic Church of the Heavenly Rest, located on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 90th Street. Remember me, found text from an 1866 vintage postcard the artist Hank Willis Thomas discovered at the Amistad Center of Art and Culture at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art will be featured as part of a collaborative project with his mother, Dr. Deborah Willis, with images from her book, 

The Black Civil War Soldier: A Visual History of Conflict and Citizenship. 

The Church of the Heavenly Rest on Museum Mile in Manhattan was founded following the American Civil War to memorialize soldiers who had died and as a community of reconciliation and peace. The Artwork honors them and the many individuals who actively participate in society but are not often recognized or remembered.

The Church of Heavenly Rest 

Permanent Installation commissioned by the city's Percent for Art as part of a broader revitalization of the Tillary Street corridor.

“With ‘Unity,’ Hank Willis Thomas captures a huge range of meaning with a simple form, conveying a sense of uplift, hope, and a little bit of Brooklyn attitude at this prominent site. We are thrilled to join our partners at DDC and DOT to install this instantly iconic work of public art.” - Kendal Henry, Director of the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs’ Percent for Art program.

 a monumental public artwork, is permanently installed on the western Tillary Street median at the intersection with Adams Street. Commissioned through the City’s Percent for Art program as part of the ongoing reconstruction of Tillary Street in Downtown Brooklyn, the piece measures 22.5 feet in height and creates a new landmark at this high profile location, adjacent to the pedestrian path entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge. According to Thomas, “this sculpture is an homage to and celebration of the unique and multi-faceted character of the borough of Brooklyn.” 

 suggests the arm of an athlete, echoing a smaller sculpture of an arm spinning a basketball on the tip of a finger that Mr. Thomas conceived in 2015. That work, called, Liberty, is inspired by a photograph of a Harlem Globetrotter and cast from the arm of one-time NBA All-Star Juwan Howard, is now in the Brooklyn Museum.

The Brooklyn Bridge

Unity

Glowing 6-foot-6-inch letters spell out LOVE OVER RULES on the exterior wall of the Salma Family Building in the heart of the Yerba Buena neighborhood. Part of Sites Unseen, permanently on view at the Salma Family Building, 165 Jessie Street, Yerba Buena District, San Francisco, CA. Situated in an alley off Mission Street, the light sculpture is the first permanent public artwork of Hank’s. A tribute to the artist’s cousin, murdered in 2000, the blinking white neon installation shares his cousin’s last recorded message to Thomas. Each word gets a line, encouraging different reads: is it “LOVE OVER RULES” or “LOVE OVERRULES?”

Salma Family Building 

Love Over Rules 

ALL LI ES MATTER is a massive work - the largest of Hank’s to date - installed at the Human Rights Campaign headquarters building in Washington DC. Unveiled on Juneteenth of 2020, the provocative work edits the dismissive phrase "All Lives Matter" that is used to undermine the Black Lives Matter movement. By removing one letter from the phrase, the artist creates an entirely different and counter poignancy, tackling centuries of lies and misrepresentations of Black people in America.

“The Human Rights Campaign is in full support of the righteous protesters who have taken to the streets to demand action and accountability for the horrific violence we have seen against Black and transgender people in this country, I am proud to join forces with Hank Willis Thomas and share his important conceptual piece and message just six blocks from the White House, where a man notorious for his lies and lack of empathy resides, and at the heart of the protests against racial violence. All lives cannot matter until Black lives, and Black trans lives, matter.” — HRC President Alphonso David.

, the design was previously shown in 2018 as a billboard in St. Louis. In addition to the art installation, HRC has also attached a large-scale banner, not created by Thomas, to the headquarters building that reads “Black Lives Matter | Black Trans Lives Matter.”

“It seems so obvious that many people are lying when they say ‘All lives matter,’” Thomas told

 in 2018. “If you believe all lives matter, then you’d also acknowledge that Black lives matter, and those same people would be marching alongside if they believed that.”

Human Rights Campaign Headquarters

ALL LI ES MATTER

 is a monumental and provocative artwork combining the Afro pick and the Black Power salute, both icons of Black identity and empowerment. When Hank conceived of a monumental Afro pick with a raised fist, he wanted to make an object that spoke specifically to African Americans, illustrative of the artist's longstanding investigation into the role public art plays in shaping collective discourse and societal values.

This 24-by-10-foot tall Afro pick is topped by a hidden platform providing a stage for those performing with the piece. Hank notes, “I was thinking of Claes Oldenburg by blowing up an item that was helpful to me when I was a kid with an Afro, and turning it into something monumental.” 

a touring exhibition empowering social change through the arts, via Kindred Arts since 2018. It has been installed in Black Rock City, NV, New York, Miami, Atlanta, Washington, Philadelphia, Oakland, Chicago, and Toronto. 

Travelling Installation

All Power to All People [24 foot]

“When viewers occupy the piece, they are encouraged to contemplate what it means to inhabit their own speech and beliefs.” - Hank Willis Thomas

Joseph and Kazuma (real red) and Harriet and Annie (capri) are two temporary installations featured in the inaugural Frieze Sculpture at Rockefeller Plaza in partnership with Tishman Speyer. Steps away from the familiar flags, Hank has created two brightly colored, comic-book style thought bubbles that double as benches, on which people can sit and contemplate the sculpture directly in front of them. Alongside thirteen international artists curated by Brett Littman, Hank frames public spaces for conversation, reflections and agency.

Frieze Sculpture at Rockefeller Center 

Frieze Sculpture 2019 

 is a monumental bronze and cement sculpture permanently living on the grounds of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice established by The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI). The site is a sacred six-acre space for truth-telling and reflection about racial terror in America and its legacy. 

Installed on the grounds in Montgomery, Alabama, 

 is inspired by a 1960s photograph by Ernest Cole of 13 South African miners as they undergo a humiliating group medical examination in the nude.

 reproduces the workers’ raised arms in three-dimensional bronze. The gesture recalls countless images made in the decades since; reminders of how violence against racialized groups persists in the US criminal justice system.

National Memorial for Peace and Justice 

Raise Up

, a new
commission, an appropriation of Jeremias Ritter’s 

(c. 1630) that is currently in the collection of the Wadsworth Athenaeum. Ritter’s modestly-scaled sculpture depicts a young “Moorish” boy riding on the back of a snail while holding onto a bow and arrow. With History of the Conquest, Thomas has enlarged Ritter’s figure to nearly life size. Drawing on mythological representations and religious traditions, History of the Conquest holds visual similarity in its grandeur and elements of fantasy to the modern-day Mardi Gras floats of New Orleans.

Prospect.4: The Lotus in Spite of the Swamp

, at the Jazz Museum in New Orleans. Now on view at the New Orleans Museum of Art’s Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden.

McNay Art Museum

History of the Conquest

“Public monuments have a higher charge now. They can celebrate a specific individual, or a group of people, but they should also invite a broader conversation about how a memorial can connect to the rest of the world and represent its people.” - Hank 

 is a provocative artwork combining the Afro pick and the Black Power salute, both icons of Black identity and empowerment. When Hank conceived of a monumental Afro pick with a raised fist, he wanted to make an object that spoke specifically to African Americans, illustrative of the artist's longstanding investigation into public art's role in shaping collective discourse and societal values. Around the 20th century, Afro combs started to take on a definite cultural and political meaning. The “black fist” was added to the bottom of many Afro combs and is a reference to the Black Power salute that was made popular during the 1960’s civil rights movement. In addition to using the pick as a styling tool, many Black men and women wore the picks in their Afros as a way to express their cultural pride. The Afro pick exists today as many things to different people: it is representative not only of an era but a sound and a counter-culture. It is a uniting motif worn as adornment, a political emblem, and a signature of collective identity. Hank recalls the scale of Pop artist Claes Oldenburg’s monumental everyday objects, such as the Clothespin and Paint Torch, while marking the lack of commemorative statues that address equal justice and belonging.



 was recognized by the Americans for the Arts’ Public Art Network Year in Review as one of the top 50 outstanding public art projects from across the country in 2017.

This project was created first for Monument Lab,  a public art and History Project curated by Paul M. Farber and Ken Lum and produced by Mural Arts Philadelphia. After its time on the Thomas Paine Plaza in Philadelphia, the work was acquired by the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. 

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts 

All Power to All People 

 is a permanent installation and collboration with Nekisha Durrett. The mural in Miami, FL was created with the intent to engage the community and their participation. The goal of the reflective sunglasses is to provide the viewer with the idea of always looking forward and a personal connection with everyone who  engages with the mural. The reflective sunglasses were created with stainless steel and a mirror polish finish.The painted alumnimum, stainless steel and neon wall lart was unveiled in 2019 and organized by Art in Public Places of the Miami Made County Department of Cultural Affairs.

Audrey M. Edmonson Transit Village

I See Myself In You 

campaigns have engaged the use of billboards to ask one question: How can a billboard (something used to communicate an action) be combined with Art (something intended to ask questions) to create new ways of thinking and talking about contemporary civil issues in America?

 wants to inspire greater attentiveness, more play with each other and greater participation in civic life. They aim to reawaken a political and cultural identity around creativity, listening, healing, and justice. They encourage and promote the creative use of one’s voice, one’s body, one’s mind, and ultimately one’s vote. They aim to build a cultural identity around creative civic participation. It is easy, as we have seen, to tear things apart. The murkier, much more difficult path is to build things together. Hank is one of hundreds of artists who have designed billboards for For Freedom’s campaigns to date. 

For Freedoms Billboards

Brooklyn is one of the most diversely populated areas in the world, bringing together cultures from all corners of the globe. 

 is part of an ongoing series by CAUSE COLLECTIVE that explores the nature of truth and understanding across cultures. Using the phrases of a poem written in collaboration with artist Ryan Alexiev, the core of the exhibition is a new series of comic book-inspired speech balloon signs that feature universal statements about truth in twenty-two of the many languages spoken in Brooklyn. Installed along the MetroTech Promenade, each sign also features an English translation of the phrase and is accompanied by a pronunciation guide. 
CAUSE COLLECTIVE arrived at these translations by working with an extended network of friends to communicate the essence of each English statement, as opposed to a direct translation. Within the Commons, the speech balloon is repeated in new sculptural works: two benches of rolled steel create circular spaces for contemplation, while a large-scale steel tree has branches that seem to grow into thought bubbles. Together these works invite us to approach our different perspectives on truth with a new sense of understanding.