Hank Willis Thomas
Priceless #1

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Images(3)

Artist Hank Willis Thomas(American, born 1976)American, born 1976

CultureAmerican

Titles

Priceless #1
from the series Branded

Date2004

MediumChromogenic print

DimensionsImage: 23 7/8 × 29 7/8 in. (60.6 × 75.9 cm)
Sheet: 23 7/8 × 29 7/8 in. (60.7 × 75.9 cm)

Credit LineGift of Anne Wilkes Tucker in honor of Alvia J. Wardlaw

Object number2008.208

Not on view

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Department

Photography

Special Collections

Photographs by African American Artists

Object Type

PHOTOGRAPHS

DescriptionDeeply affected by the murder of his best friend and cousin, Songha Willis Thomas, in 2000 during a robbery outside a Philadelphia nightclub, Hank Willis Thomas used a photograph of Songha’s funeral and the vocabulary of advertising to skewer society’s sometimes twisted balance of emotional ties and consumer desires. More than a commentary on Songha’s death, Priceless #1 probes the way advertising shapes our hopes and dreams and the way that major brands market their products to the African American community.
ProvenanceAnne Wilkes Tucker, Houston; given to MFAH, 2008.
Exhibition History"Unbranded: Reflections in Black by Corporate America 1968-2008," High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia, June 7 - October 5, 2008

"Houston Collects: African American Art," The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Upper Brown Pavilion, July 31-October 26, 2008.

“A History of Photography II: Selections from the Museum's Collection,” The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, March 17–July 19, 2015.

"Statements: African American Art from the Museum's Collection," The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Millennium Gallery, January 24–May 23, 2016.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

There are no further inscriptions on the verso of the sheet.

The photograph is not signed.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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