Hank Willis Thomas

Tomorrow, The United States of Africa, 2023

Hank Willis Thomas is a conceptual artist working with themes related to perspective, identity, commodity, media, and popular culture.

In a  series of quilts, Willis Thomas reimagined the flags of the states of Africa as source material for his ongoing quilt practice. A design from this series flies as flags on the roof of Royal Festival Hall.

In this work, significant national symbols and colours are fragmented and rearranged into new constellations, using the folkloric quilt patterns of the American Underground Railroad as a guide.