A major monograph chronicling Thomas' vibrant, rhinestone-adorned paintings
Contemporary African-American artist Mickalene Thomas has created a dramatic body of work that ranges from painting, collage and print to photography, video and immersive installations. The book -- and the exhibition at the Broad Museum on which it is based -- shares its title with the pivotal text by feminist author bell hooks, in which love is an active process rooted in healing, carving a path away from domination and towards collective liberation.
Through her probing investigations of pop culture and mass media, Thomas makes a reverberating demand for Black women to be seen and understood, and for viewers to become what hooks calls "practitioners of love."
With influences ranging from 19th-century painting to popular culture, Thomas' art articulates a complex and empowering vision of womanhood while upending traditional definitions of beauty, sexuality, celebrity and politics. This major publication further affirms Thomas' status as a key, influential figure in contemporary art. It features notable works that are arranged in thematic chapters throughout the book.
The book also features an interview with the artist by Rachel Thomas, and is followed by essays from Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Darnell L. Moore, Claudia Rankine, Ed Schad, Renée Mussai and Christine Y. Kim, which cover her distinct visual vocabulary, drawing on themes of intergenerational female empowerment, autobiography, memory and tenets of Black feminist theory. Together, these essays explore how Thomas subverts art history to reclaim the notions of repose, rest and leisure in works that celebrate self-expression and joy. For the artist, repose is a radical act, pointing to "what is able to happen once you have the agency."
Mickalene Thomas (born 1971) is an international, award-winning, multidisciplinary artist whose work has yielded instantly recognizable and widely celebrated aesthetic languages within contemporary visual culture. She is known for her elaborate portraits of Black women composed of rhinestones, acrylic and enamel. Thomas was nominated TIME's 100 Most Influential People of 2025.
