I have a problem with something here, as usual.
The accompanying caption on the top cover in the picture below reads, “Jessica Chastain: Hollywood’s It Actress Plays Muse to Artist Mickalene Thomas.” Thomas has long been an art world star (hers was the first official portrait of Michelle Obama), but she’s been having a particularly moment-y moment at the moment, due to a solo show at the Brooklyn Museum.
A question for everyone involved: Why is an artist famous for her complicated representations of black female sexuality making pretty pictures of a white starlet for a fashion magazine published by Conde Nast?
I’m having a hard time wrapping my mind around why, when Thomas’ entire career has been (I think) exclusively about representations of black women, she and W didn’t seize the opportunity to elaborate on the themes of her work by photographing a black actress. Many people criticize the fashion industry for perpetuating a homogenized (young, white, thin) standard of beauty which excludes many different kinds of people, including racial minorities. It’s a real issue, everyone knows it. There was an opening here to address it* in a way that could have been interesting and provocative, consistent with the artist’s body of work, and appropriate to W. Instead, the image above, though pretty, looks like a flattened, defanged version of Thomas’ most iconic pieces. That sucks.
*Just a disclaimer: Maybe they somehow did it in a way that’s not coming across in the Instagram picture. I’ve only seen the image included here, so the final product and packaging might communicate something else. Maybe.
