“Freedom is Going Home”: Hank Willis Thomas and Faith Ringgold at Goodman Gallery 

Throughout the latter half of the 20th century, many artists, academics and activists explored expressions of race and identity in reaction and response to the colonial liberation movements that proliferated across countries in the Global South. Specifically within the African diaspora, concepts of race were, and continue to be, a topic of concern. Artists, Hank Willis Thomas and Faith Ringgold, though working in different time periods, both centre their work around Black identity. At Goodman Gallery in Cape Town, the two artists’ work comes together in a new exhibition titled: Freedom is Going Home. 

Thomas was born and raised in New York and followed in his mother, curator Deborah Willis’ footsteps by pursuing a career in the arts. He grew up surrounded by and engaging with, the works of many artists, such as Faith Ringgold. His first encounter with Ringgold’s work was through an exhibition his mother curated. Having grown up admiring her art, Ringgold became a central figure in his childhood. 

Faith Ringgold is a New York-based artist that was prominent in the 1980s and has had her paintings, sculptures, and narrative quilts exhibited across the world. Ringgold is most famous for her story quilts, where she uses different textiles and draws on African American quilting traditions to tell stories of enslaved women, African American historical figures, as well as stories from her own personal life. 

Her work, South African Love Story (1985-87) is an inscription of the story of a couple during the apartheid era that were separated. With quilted panels surrounding the piece, Ringgold echoes the story through patterns of entangled human forms. This is the first time Ringgold’s pieces, South African Love Story Part I and II, have been showcased in South Africa since it was created 40 years ago.  

Displaying this work in South Africa brings the story ‘home’. “When I came to South Africa for the first time, back in 2003, I began to engage with my identity as a Black man,” Thomas explains. “It was really the first time I questioned or saw the certainty of the concept of race.” Visiting places such as the District Six Museum, Thomas witnessed the aftereffects of apartheid and the way racial tensions persist in South Africa. “I was interested in how [race] has reinforced imaginary boundaries between people,” says Thomas. 

Placed on opposing walls, the exhibition sets up an intergenerational conversation between Thomas and Ringgold’s work. Both artists explore different mediums for storytelling. Using fabric, lenticular prints and sculpture, Thomas explores different materials as a means and currency for storytelling. The 3D lenticular paintings create a kind of optical illusion where the image changes depending on the perspective of the viewer. 

He used American flags and prison uniforms in previous work and wanted to expand the practice with this piece. “I was interested in the potency and power of the banner, and the message flags carry for people,” says Thomas. The pieces, Tomorrow, the United States of Africa and We must dare to Invent the Future, present an amalgamation of the different flags from countries in the African continent. The flags overlap and bleed into each other, blurring the distinct separation between the flags. 

Apart from their work engaging with social issues, both artists are deeply invested in social justice. Thomas is one of the founders of For Freedoms, an art social engagement platform. For Freedoms is a coalition of artists, academics and organisers that seek to use creativity as a catalyst for liberation and transformation. Founded in 2016, the platform showcases artists’ work that engages with societal issues, such as the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, and encourages civic participation and engagement with this art. Ringgold has also spent much of her career participating in several feminist and anti-racist organisations, which greatly influenced and impacted her work. 

Their commitment to social justice is evident in their artworks’ underlying theme of freedom. From the flag to the fist, freedom remains an elusive figure in their art. “I think freedom is a perpetual quest and a perpetual revelation,” Thomas says. Ultimately, in many ways, Thomas and Ringgold explore the intricacies of freedom. How do we attain freedom, and what does it mean to be free?

The exhibition is on show now at Goodman Gallery in Cape Town and will continue until June 17th.

Faith Ringgold, Windows of the Wedding #15: Friends, 1974, Acrylic on canvas, 203.2 x 91.4 cm

Faith Ringgold, Windows of the Wedding #6: Patience and Understanding, 1974, Acrylic on canvas, 203.2 x 90.2 cm