Mickalene Thomas’s Liz with Hoops at Yale University Art Gallery

The Yale University Art Gallery presents a discussion on Mickalene Thomas’s Liz with Hoops (2023), led by Keely Orgeman, the Seymour H. Knox, Jr., Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art. This recently acquired painting marks the first work by Mickalene Thomas, M.F.A. 2002, to enter the Gallery’s collection. The piece features a striking portrait of Liz, a professional model, posed against a dynamic background of faux-wood paneling, plants, and abstract patterns. Adorned with sparkling rhinestones, Liz with Hoops evokes the layered spirit of collage and is based on an earlier work Thomas created from her own 2013 photograph.

The talk will explore Thomas’s decade-long creative process and the ways in which the portrait connects to themes of Black identity and domestic space highlighted in the Gallery’s 2023–24 exhibition Mickalene Thomas / Portrait of an Unlikely Space. The program takes place on Wednesday, November 19, 2025, from 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm at the Yale University Art Gallery, located at 1111 Chapel Street, New Haven, Connecticut. Admission is free and open to the public.