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Smokin' Joe Ain't J'Mama

1978/2006
Not on view
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.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Smokin' Joe Ain't J'Mama
  • Artist: Hank Willis Thomas (American, born 1977)
  • Date: 1978/2006
  • Medium: Chromogenic print
  • Dimensions: Image: 42 1/8 × 39 3/4 in. (107 × 101 cm)
    Sheet: approx. 51 9/16 × 49 3/16 in. (131 × 125 cm)
    Frame: 52 15/16 × 50 13/16 in. (134.5 × 129 cm)
  • Classification: Photographs
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Charina Foundation Inc. Gift, 2020
  • Object Number: 2020.103
  • Rights and Reproduction: © Hank Willis Thomas
  • Curatorial Department: Photographs

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