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The acclaimed artist on Jet magazine, being a painter, and the beauty queens who inspired her<style>
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Mickalene Thomas: ‘My gaze is the gaze of a Black woman unapologetically loving other Black women’

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<div>While working on a host of spectacular collages, Mickalene Thomas welcomed Art Basel to her Brooklyn studio. Among the monumental cut-outs and jars of sequins, she talked about the women who inspired her: from actress Pam Grier and model Naomi Sims to everyday heroines like the beauty queens in the iconic African American magazine Jet. Collectively, they epitomized the Black is Beautiful movement – and ushered in a new era. ‘These women were defining another way of looking at beauty,’ Thomas says. ‘It’s not just the surface, it’s also the actions.’<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/7793/Mickalene-Thomas" target="_blank">Mickalene Thomas</a> is represented by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/1387/Kavi-Gupta" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Kavi Gupta Gallery</a> (Chicago),&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/1237/Galerie-Nathalie-Obadia">Galerie Nathalie Obadia</a> (Paris, Brussels), and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/3514/Yancey-Richardson-Gallery">Yancey Richardson Gallery</a>.'Mickalene Thomas: With Monet' October 13, 2022&nbsp;–&nbsp;February 6, 2023 at the Musée de l'Orangerie, ParisDirection: TORSO Cinematography: Jake Moore Edit: Anthony Valdez Sound capture: Robert Douthat Production: Coline Milliard and Jeanne-Salomé Rochat for Art Basel</div>

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Mickalene Thomas: ‘My gaze is the gaze of a Black woman unapologetically loving other Black women’

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