Your Skin has the Power to Protect You

Series Title: Unbranded: Reflections in Black Corporate America

2008

Hank Willis Thomas

(American, 1976-)

Culture

America

Medium

digital chromogenic print

Measurements

Paper: 166.4 x 130.8 cm (65 1/2 x 51 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 2012.63

Impression

This artwork is known to be under copyright.

Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

The Unbranded series encourages us to consider how advertising reinforces generalizations surrounding race, gender, and cultural identity.

Description

Hank Willis Thomas chose 2 ads per year published in Ebony, a magazine aimed at African Americans, between 1968—the year Martin Luther King was assassinated—and 2008, the year Barack Obama was elected president. He subtracted all the branding information from the images and added titles, often satirical, to each image. The result is a four-decade survey of how advertisers thought African Americans wanted to see themselves.