The Henry is excited to welcome Mickalene Thomas for a conversation taking place in the galleries of MUSE: Mickalene Thomas Photographs and tête-à-tête.  In conversation with artist, writer, and performer Dr. Bettina Judd, Thomas will address her work in relation to influential artists and communities of inspiration and will speak to the ways that concepts of beauty, pleasure, and interior space unfold through the photographs.

Mickalene Thomas (lives and works in Brooklyn, NY) makes paintings, collages, photography, video, and installations that draw on art history and popular culture to create a contemporary vision of female sexuality, beauty, and power. Blurring the distinction between object and subject, concrete and abstract, real and imaginary, Thomas constructs complex portraits, landscapes, and interiors in order to examine how identity, gender, and sense-of-self are informed by the ways women (and “feminine” spaces) are represented in art and popular culture. 

Dr. Bettina Judd is an interdisciplinary writer, artist, and performer whose research focuses on Black women's creative production and our use of visual art, literature, and music to develop feminist thought. She is currently Assistant Professor of Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Washington.

Join Dr. Bettina Judd, Anastacia Renée, and Christa Bell for a morning of collective dialogue inspired by the exhibition, MUSE: Mickalene Thomas Photographs and tête-à-tête. Designed to be a safe space for an intracommunity conversation among Black women and Black gender non-conforming folks, this will be an outdoor, salon-style gathering. Facilitators will present a family reunion-inspired approach to generate a warm and creatively conducive environment for discussing core themes that emerge in the artwork of Thomas and the tête-à-tête artists, particularly as it relates to the lives of Black women. 

Dr. Bettina Judd is an interdisciplinary writer, artist and performer whose research focuses on Black women's creative production and our use of visual art, literature, and music to develop feminist thought. She is currently Assistant Professor of Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Washington.