Hank Willis Thomas “Unbranded” Acquired by Brooklyn Museum
The Brooklyn Museum has just acquired half of Hank Willis Thomas’ Unbranded: Reflections in Black by Corporate America 82 piece series. The series examines the way corporate America skews advertising towards a Black audience or uses Black subjects in ads. By removing all logos and text from ads dating from 1968 to 2008 leaving the viewer with an ambiguous presentation of stereotypes and prejudices reified by removing the context.
“The images encourages the viewer to think about how marketing images construct and underpin stereotypes about African American life in a way that is often embraced by the consumer of both the image and the product,” writes the Brooklyn Museum.
Hank Willis Thomas from Brooklyn Museum on Vimeo.
- SPL
