Eric Gottesman teaches, organizes, writes, and makes artworks with other people that address nationalism, migration, structural violence, history, and intimate relations. He is a John Simon Guggenheim Fellow, a Creative Capital Artist, a Fulbright Fellow, a co-founder of For Freedoms, and he co-created the books Sudden Flowers (2014) and For Freedoms: Where Do We Go From Here? (2024). Teaching is integral to his practice, and he is a mentor in the Arab documentary photography program in Beirut, Lebanon and the 2024 W.W. Corcoran Visiting Professor in Community Engagement at George Washington University.
Highlighting the importance of art in public spaces and the legacy of creative civic action, For Freedoms co-founders Eric Gottesman and Hank Willis Thomas will discuss creativity as a democratic value and art and collaboration as activism. Moderated by Philip Brookman, the National Gallery's consulting curator in the department of photographs.
A book signing of For Freedoms: Where Do We Go From Here? follows in the East Building Concourse Shop.
Join us for a For Freedoms panel on Friday, October 4, at 1:00 p.m.
For Freedoms is an artist-led organization that centers art as a catalyst for creative civic engagement, discourse, and direct action. Founded in 2016 by a coalition of artists including Hank Willis Thomas, Eric Gottesman, Michelle Woo, and Wyatt Gallery, For Freedoms is dedicated to fostering an environment of listening, healing, and justice through a wide range of creative activations. For Freedoms works closely with a variety of artists, organizations, institutions, and brands to expand what participation in a democracy looks like and to reshape conversations about politics.
Eric Gottesman. Courtesy of the artist.
Hank Will Thomas. Photograph by Andrea Blanch
Hank Willis Thomas lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. He is a conceptual artist focusing on themes relating to perspective, identity, commodity, media, and popular culture. His work often incorporates widely-recognizable icons—many from well-known advertising or branding campaigns—to explore their ability to reinforce generalizations developed around race, gender, and ethnicity. His work has been exhibited throughout the United States and abroad, including at the International Center of Photography, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Musée du quai Branly, Hong Kong Arts Centre, and the Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art.