Hank Thomas

The first monograph of the hundreds of billboards by artist-led coalition For Freedoms, the largest public creative collaboration in American history Founded in 2016 by Hank Willis Thomas, Eric Gottesman, Wyatt Gallery, and Michelle Woo, For Freedoms is an artist-led organization that uses art as a catalyst for creative civic engagement, discourse, and direct action. With the aim to infuse an anti-partisan, arts-based perspective into the political landscape, For Freedoms has collaborated with thousands of artists, activists, and scholars to create more than 500 evocative billboards that use art as a vehicle to deepen public discussions on civic issues and core values. This comprehensive volume includes billboards created between 2016-2023 by over 400 established artists, including Derrick Adams, Gina Belafonte, Sanford Biggers, Paula Crown, Shepard Fairey, Theaster Gates, Guerrilla Girls, Jenny Holzer, Rashid Johnson, JR, Christine Sun Kim, Marilyn Minter, Sofía Gallisá Muriente, Gordon Parks, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, Maggie Rogers, Hank Willis Thomas, Carrie Mae Weems, and Ai Weiwei, among many more. This new book celebrates how For Freedoms has transformed public commercial space into exhibition space and launched a creative collaboration of epic proportion. Published ahead of the 2024 American presidential election, it also underscores the For Freedoms mission to model how art can urge communities into greater action and participation.

Almost nobody approves of the way our government is working. Almost everybody agrees that money in the form of political donations is a major part of the problems we witness. Corporate and special interest donations are seen as the most egregious parts of the political finance problem.Our history books are not as complete as they arguably should have been when it comes to some of our more controversial historical events. It is difficult to imagine any reason for these omissions that does not involve malice on the part of the author. After all, when was the last time someone came to you with information they did not want you to have?The goal of this book is to offer ideas about how we might fix the political dysfunction that dominates our daily news and conversation. The reader will, I hope, find themselves drawn into a conversation that will be comfortable and productive when it comes to their involvement. The more we talk to one another, the more likely it will be that we begin to agree on solutions to our current political problems.