Mickalene Thomas
b. 1971
Tell Me What You’re Thinking
Dimensions: 100.97 cm x 125.73 cm
Medium: photograph, chromogenic print on paper
Date Created: 2016
Mickalene Thomas is a contemporary mixed-media artist whose work delivers empowered images of black women in richly decorated interior settings. Thomas takes from art historical representations of women–often in moments of leisure or relaxation–and posits them in an abstract space of technicolor textiles. In Tell Me What You’re Thinking, the model is reclined in a pose reminiscent of art historical paintings of odalisques. The variety of patterned fabrics break up the picture plane, obscuring our sense of depth and our ability to render and register a definable space. The studio-quality lighting and perfectly placed props of black culture, such as the album cover adorning a Diana Ross portrait, intentionally reveal the staged nature of the image and raise the notion of artifice, adornment, and the process of dressing up ourselves and our environment. Thomas manipulates the perception of the decoration and display of women throughout time and women of color in the modern era in doing so.
