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What's That Floating Over the Smith Warehouse?

Small blimp brings hope to Smith art gallery

A small blimp hovers over the Smith Warehouse, part of the exhibit inside.

A large, helium balloon dotting the skies, part of the new exhibition Hope on view at the Franklin Center Gallery, is greeting pedestrians walking near the Smith Warehouse.

The blimp is part of a multi-site exhibition, sponsored by the John Hope Franklin Center and the Franklin Humanities instate, which presents new and recent works by contemporary visual artist and photographer Hank Willis Thomas.

The exhibition Hope showcases seven major large-scale photographic works by the artist. The photographs will be accompanied by Thomas' collaborative video project Question Bridge: Black Male, which features a question-and-answer dialogue between the diverse members of the U.S. Black Male population and is currently a work-in-progress.

Hank Willis Thomas, a contemporary African American visual artist and photographer, is known for his monograph, Pitch Blackness, which won the Aperture West Book Prize in 2008. Thomas works primarily with themes related to identity, history and popular culture. His work was featured in the 30 Americans exhibition at the Rubell Family Collection in Miami as well as in the exhibition and accompanying catalog, 25 Under 25: Up-and-Coming Photographers. He has exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the U.S. and abroad.

More information on events can be found at: http://fhi.duke.edu/projects/gallery-programs.