Hank Willis Thomas- Pitch Blackness

The variety of imagery, manipulated or "straight," found in Pitch Blackness by Hank Willis Thomas all comment on the enduring and intertwining legacy of slavery, racism and capitalism in these United States. His astute parodies of commercial product imagery serve brilliantly in chronicling the evolving history between a black minority that has always proved a valuable commodity from the earliest days of bondage to the modern day reality of multimillion dollar endorsements. The rules have also evolved, but the power structure remains steadfast. And in the background, the documentation of his own family members serve to remind us of the real flesh and blood survivors who have sacrificed, endured and in some measure prospered despite this tenuous, not so ambiguous relationship.

Pity we don't have more great art that examines its relationship with money, rather than art created solely to make it.