Join the artist behind our Hayward Gallery show, and writer and curator Renée Mussai, for a discussion about Thomas’ work and its themes of Black female identity.
Together, they discuss Thomas’ first solo presentation in a UK public art gallery – All About Love – exploring what Mussai has described as, ‘Thomas’ cauldron of aesthetic kinship, where self-regard and self-love reside abundantly’.
Mickalene Thomas is a renowned multidisciplinary artist celebrated for her vibrant, rhinestone-adorned portraits of Black women. Exploring themes of identity, race and gender, her work explores themes of Black female identity and its complexities within Western culture.
A Tony-nominated co-producer, curator, educator, and mentor, Thomas made history in 2023 as the first Black queer femme artist with a Yale University scholarship in her name. Her work is held in prominent collections, including MoMA, the Whitney and the Smithsonian.
Renée Mussai is an independent London-based curator, writer and scholar of visual culture with a special interest in Black feminist practices. Formerly senior curator and head of collection at Autograph, she is currently senior research associate at the Visual Identities in Art and Design Research Centre (VIAD), University of Johannesburg, associate lecturer at University of the Arts London, and Chair of the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation.
