Hank Willis Thomas American, 1976
The Nightmare of the White Elephant, 2017
Mixed media including sport jerseys
159.6 x 239.8 cm. (62 7/8 x 94 3/8 in.)
Copyright The Artist
In The Nightmare of the White Elephant (2017), Hank Willis Thomas continues his exploration of cultural iconography and the legacies of colonialism through a postmodern lens, drawing on both sports...
In The Nightmare of the White Elephant (2017), Hank Willis Thomas continues his exploration of cultural iconography and the legacies of colonialism through a postmodern lens, drawing on both sports symbolism and the legacy of Modernist primitivism. Constructed from an assemblage of Premier League football jerseys – including teams such as Watford, Chelsea, and Manchester United – the work presents a richly textured, quilt-like composition that merges contemporary sports culture with a critical examination of art history and global power dynamics. By employing jerseys as his primary medium, Thomas recontextualises the heraldic iconography of modern sports within the framework of African artistic traditions, particularly drawing on the Fante Asafo flags of Ghana, which historically combined British heraldry with indigenous symbolism.
The Nightmare of the White Elephant echoes Henri Matisse’s works in Jazz (1947), a suite of paper collages inspired by circus and theatrical imagery that reflect the improvisational nature of jazz itself. However, while Matisse utilised cut paper to capture the vibrant rhythm of European avant-garde art, Thomas swaps paper for sports jerseys, bringing Matisse’s imagery into the contemporary realm of sport, spectacle, and commerce. This transformation of materials highlights the spectacle inherent in modern sports as a continuation of ritual performance, while simultaneously critiquing the commodification and corporate sponsorship that dominate the world of football. Each jersey, adorned with brand logos like Chevrolet and Etihad Airways, serves as a visual signifier of global consumer culture, linking the power dynamics of colonial-era primitivism to the corporate-driven economies of contemporary sport.
Thomas’s reference to Matisse is significant; as Matisse and his contemporaries, including Picasso and Brancusi, drew inspiration from African tribal art, Modernist primitivism was born from a Eurocentric gaze that often commodified and objectified African aesthetics. Thomas reclaims this narrative, invoking Matisse’s forms to confront the colonial undertones of Modernism while acknowledging how these early 20th-century artists sparked a revolution in abstraction through their exposure to African art. This engagement with Matisse’s legacy becomes a platform for Thomas to interrogate how African culture has been appropriated, commodified, and instrumentalised within Western art – a tradition that extends into contemporary cultural practices, from fine art to sport. By reasserting African influence in his work, Thomas repositions African culture as an origin point for modern abstraction, challenging viewers to recognise the often-overlooked historical imbalances that have shaped art history.
Furthermore, Thomas’s choice of a patchwork quilt format carries a dual significance, resonating both with African textile traditions and with the African American quilting tradition, which emerged as a medium for storytelling, resistance, and community within marginalised groups. This layered approach provides a counterpoint to the strictly European narrative of Modernism by foregrounding African and diasporic art forms as central to the development of abstract visual language. The quilt’s structure, with its interwoven logos and team colours, speaks to the concept of unity within diversity, reflecting Thomas’s interest in the ways sport has historically provided a stage for social and political commentary. As Thomas has noted, sports serve as a “highly political landscape,” where athletes such as Muhammad Ali, Billie Jean King, and Jim Brown transformed their public platforms into spaces for resistance, creativity, and identity assertion.
The Nightmare of the White Elephant thus operates as both an homage and a critique, examining the intersections of art, culture, and commerce. The title itself evokes the historical “white elephant” – a rare and valuable possession that may prove burdensome or problematic – mirroring the complexity of Western art’s relationship with African aesthetics. Just as colonial collectors amassed African art as status symbols, unaware of or indifferent to its cultural significance, modern sports commodify identity and allegiance, turning athletes and team symbols into branded, consumable icons. In his work, Thomas reveals the “nightmare” beneath this spectacle: a system that both idolises and exploits, celebrates and commodifies, creating a contemporary portrait of cultural appropriation through the lens of commercialised sports.
Ultimately, The Nightmare of the White Elephant transcends its material composition to become a profound commentary on the enduring impacts of colonialism, the commodification of culture, and the politicised arena of sport. Through his synthesis of Matisse’s legacy and African art, Thomas constructs a visual language that reasserts African cultural contributions within the trajectory of Modern art, reframing both abstraction and primitivism as acts of reclamation and self-definition. This work stands as a testament to the power of art to illuminate historical injustices, offering a vibrant, multilayered examination of the global exchange and its reverberations in contemporary life.
The Nightmare of the White Elephant echoes Henri Matisse’s works in Jazz (1947), a suite of paper collages inspired by circus and theatrical imagery that reflect the improvisational nature of jazz itself. However, while Matisse utilised cut paper to capture the vibrant rhythm of European avant-garde art, Thomas swaps paper for sports jerseys, bringing Matisse’s imagery into the contemporary realm of sport, spectacle, and commerce. This transformation of materials highlights the spectacle inherent in modern sports as a continuation of ritual performance, while simultaneously critiquing the commodification and corporate sponsorship that dominate the world of football. Each jersey, adorned with brand logos like Chevrolet and Etihad Airways, serves as a visual signifier of global consumer culture, linking the power dynamics of colonial-era primitivism to the corporate-driven economies of contemporary sport.
Thomas’s reference to Matisse is significant; as Matisse and his contemporaries, including Picasso and Brancusi, drew inspiration from African tribal art, Modernist primitivism was born from a Eurocentric gaze that often commodified and objectified African aesthetics. Thomas reclaims this narrative, invoking Matisse’s forms to confront the colonial undertones of Modernism while acknowledging how these early 20th-century artists sparked a revolution in abstraction through their exposure to African art. This engagement with Matisse’s legacy becomes a platform for Thomas to interrogate how African culture has been appropriated, commodified, and instrumentalised within Western art – a tradition that extends into contemporary cultural practices, from fine art to sport. By reasserting African influence in his work, Thomas repositions African culture as an origin point for modern abstraction, challenging viewers to recognise the often-overlooked historical imbalances that have shaped art history.
Furthermore, Thomas’s choice of a patchwork quilt format carries a dual significance, resonating both with African textile traditions and with the African American quilting tradition, which emerged as a medium for storytelling, resistance, and community within marginalised groups. This layered approach provides a counterpoint to the strictly European narrative of Modernism by foregrounding African and diasporic art forms as central to the development of abstract visual language. The quilt’s structure, with its interwoven logos and team colours, speaks to the concept of unity within diversity, reflecting Thomas’s interest in the ways sport has historically provided a stage for social and political commentary. As Thomas has noted, sports serve as a “highly political landscape,” where athletes such as Muhammad Ali, Billie Jean King, and Jim Brown transformed their public platforms into spaces for resistance, creativity, and identity assertion.
The Nightmare of the White Elephant thus operates as both an homage and a critique, examining the intersections of art, culture, and commerce. The title itself evokes the historical “white elephant” – a rare and valuable possession that may prove burdensome or problematic – mirroring the complexity of Western art’s relationship with African aesthetics. Just as colonial collectors amassed African art as status symbols, unaware of or indifferent to its cultural significance, modern sports commodify identity and allegiance, turning athletes and team symbols into branded, consumable icons. In his work, Thomas reveals the “nightmare” beneath this spectacle: a system that both idolises and exploits, celebrates and commodifies, creating a contemporary portrait of cultural appropriation through the lens of commercialised sports.
Ultimately, The Nightmare of the White Elephant transcends its material composition to become a profound commentary on the enduring impacts of colonialism, the commodification of culture, and the politicised arena of sport. Through his synthesis of Matisse’s legacy and African art, Thomas constructs a visual language that reasserts African cultural contributions within the trajectory of Modern art, reframing both abstraction and primitivism as acts of reclamation and self-definition. This work stands as a testament to the power of art to illuminate historical injustices, offering a vibrant, multilayered examination of the global exchange and its reverberations in contemporary life.