Smokin' Joe Ain't J'Mama

Hank Willis Thomas

1978/2006 · Chromogenic print · Photographs

For his series Unbranded, Thomas re-photographed historic magazine ads as a way to "track blackness in the corporate eye"—an eye that seeks to sell products and also to defuse racial tension. Sourced from a campaign for Blue Bonnet margarine, this image reflects a base corporate initiative to boost breakfast sales among Black consumers. Hired to role-play an Aunt Jemima type, boxer "Smokin’ Joe" Frazier appears to re-appropriate the infamous "mammy" logo. He poses gamely in a bonnet, though his emasculating attire can also be read as a troubling effort by advertisers to quell the perceived threat of Black men to a white status quo. Thomas strips the image of logos and ad copy, allowing viewers to draw their own conclusions about the campaign.

Artist

Hank Willis Thomas

Date

1978/2006

Medium

Chromogenic print

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Purchase, Charina Foundation Inc. Gift, 2020