‘Art Is a Journey Towards Change’: Mickalene Thomas’ Lessons in Love

Mickalene Thomas b. 1971, United States Follow +

Mickalene Thomas describes her exhibition at London‘s Hayward Gallery as ‘a love letter to all Black women’. Named after bell hooks’ book All About Love (1999), the show surveys two decades of the American artist’s practice, with distinct bejewelled portraits and multimedia installations that put the people in her own life front and centre.

It’s in bell hooks’ spirit of intersectionality that Thomas approaches the concept of love. ‘Similar to bell hooks,’ Thomas tells Ocula, ‘I believe we should all find the strength to explore who we are and to fully embrace it. Once we can do this, we have reached a certain level of freedom and inhibition that can help us change the world.’

Ocula invited Thomas to share her convictions on love, illuminating the overlaps between community, power, joy, selfhood, and expression.

All About Love and community

This exhibition is a love letter to all Black women—it allows them to embrace their vulnerability, strength, and beauty with a liberated sense of excellence, influence, and brilliance. I am part of this community, so I personally understand the nuances and challenges that each of us face daily. I want to lift this sisterhood up through my art, and I think embracing love is one of the best ways to do that. We are inherently strong and must start to recognise ourselves as cultivators, changemakers, and contributors to the discourses that shape society.

On vulnerability and self-portraiture

I started shaping my artistry and establishing my voice through self-portraits. I would pose as various characters from pop culture and merge them with high art, ultimately pulling from society’s image of beauty and making them my own. Exploring self-portraiture prepared me to think honestly about what it meant to be the subject of the image without being reduced to the object of the viewer.

My self-portraits have evolved into more expansive narratives such as in the Me as Muse installation. Eartha Kitt’s interview from the Terry Wogan show [1989], and her performance of ‘I Want to Be Evil’, is integrated into the narration. In the audio, she talks vulnerably about her life and painful transformation from Eartha Mae to Eartha Kitt.

On art and love

For me, art is part of a journey towards love as well as a way for me to express it and better understand it. I find love through the act of painting, photography, and collage as well as through my subjects. With each subject, I explore pleasure, love, and joy and create narratives idealised based on memories of desire. I hope to convey that the inner beauty, allure, and sexuality of my subjects are not imposed from the outside—they are inherent to each person and should be celebrated on their own terms.

Art is also a journey towards change, and change happens when we take risks. This is why I show Black femininity, erotica, and desire in all its forms—from softness to fierceness—in my work as a way to radically disrupt and shift narratives on life and love for present and future generations.

On the steadying hand of love in shaky times

The trials and tribulations of my own life as a child did not negate the fact that there was a lot of love, care, family, support, and comfort, even when there was struggle. I bring these experiences and feelings into my work as well as recognise their impact in shaping who I have become. Being bold and being yourself is what my artwork is about, but it took me a long time to reach this level of self-love. Practicing compassion, honesty, and authenticity in uncertain moments can keep our spirits high and comfort us. When you honour these sentiments, you can get through anything.

On the power of love

Love transforms us. As we learn in All About Love, love is a verb, not a noun. We often think of it as just an emotion but love in all its forms is about listening and giving back. How much of what you love about yourself and give of yourself is up to you.

Loving and listening can challenge oppressive narratives and revolutionise society to be more open and accepting. I hope viewers can internalise some of these lessons when they experience my art and learn how to be ‘practitioners of love’ themselves, as bell hooks says.

Imagining love in a post-patriarchal world

My work is about Black women claiming space, and I can depict their beauty, femininity, desire and power as a way to liberate cultural oppression and marginalisation. I want to make Black identity, femininity, queerness, and transgressiveness more visible. We have been supporting characters for far too long, and my art gives us an opportunity to be leading roles. A post-patriarchal world recognises this and allows us to exercise the ability to be ourselves without judgement and to be respected and fully heard.

On creativity as self-love

I wouldn’t be able to do what I do without being comfortable with who I am. Through my practice, I have developed the confidence to create art that is meant to spark new conversations and positively shift cultural narratives. I express self-love in all my work, whether I’m the subject or not. The act of creating brings me joy, and my relationship with the muses in my work fulfill me in different ways.

Listening and being present with my daughter, family, and friends fuels me as well. There is freedom in self-love and as a result, you don’t care as much about what other people think. Once you achieve a certain level of this, the challenge becomes helping others find their path to loving all parts of themselves, including those things that might be hidden or overlooked. —[O]

Mickalene Thomas: All About Love is on view at Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, London, from 11 February through 5 May 2025.

Main image: Exhibition view: Mickalene Thomas: All About Love, Hayward Gallery, London (11 February–5 May 2025). Courtesy the artist and the Hayward Gallery. Photo: Mark Blower.