Truth Booth
TFI Suppport
The Power of Words 2014
Logline
In Search of the Truth (Truth Booth) is an installation comprised of a touring, portable, inflatable "Truth Booth" that embarked on a world tour at the Galway Arts Festival, Ireland in 2011. The project was created by artists Hank Willis Thomas, Ryan Alexiev, and Jim Ricks of the Cause Collective. The exterior is ironically shaped like a giant cartoon speech bubble with the word "TRUTH" boldly printed on the side. The interior acts much like a photo booth, but serves to compile no longer than two minute video responses from the public. Once seated inside people are invited to record their opinions and thoughts as they finish the statement: “The truth is...”. Throughout this long-term
project the video footage will be compiled and edited into a video artwork. To expand and engage with audiences, movements of the Truth Booth and sample responses will be tracked, edited, and categorized on a website.
Mandela quote: "The truth is that we are not yet free; we have merely achieved the freedom to be free, the right not to be oppressed."
Hank Thomas
DIRECTOR
Hank Willis Thomas is a photo conceptual artist working primarily with themes related to identity, history and popular culture. He received a BFA in Photography and Africana studies from New York University and his MFA/MA in Photography and Visual Criticism from the California College of Arts. Thomas’ monograph, Pitch Blackness, was published by Aperture in 2008. His work is in numerous public collections including The Museum of Modern Art New York, The Guggenheim Museum, The Whitney Museum of American Art, The Brooklyn Museum, The High Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. Recent notable exhibitions include Hank Willis Thomas at the Cleveland Museum of Art, Strange Fruit at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Picture Windows: Hank Willis Thomas in collaboration with Sanford Biggers at the International Center for Photography, and the Istanbul Biennial. His 2014 The Power of Words interactive project is titled Truth Booth.
Tatiyana Jenkins
FILM FELLOW
Tatiyana Jenkins is a Posse Scholar, second-year student at Lawrence University and a student filmmaker. As an intended Gender Studies and Video Production double major, she is dedicated to creating social change through her work. She has worked on a series of short films including Triggering Wounds, a short film about gun violence in the Harlem community that was awarded Best Documentary in the Our City, My Story program by the Tribeca Film Institute in 2013. In the future, she hopes to be film director and editor and focus on redefining the portrayal of women. Her 2014 The Power of Words interactive project is titled Truth Booth, by Hank Willis Thomas.
Jasmine Velez
FILM FELLOW
Jasmine Velez is a junior at Queens College majoring in Cinema Studies and minoring in Anthropology. From 2011-2013 she co-directed the short documentary film Triggering Wounds in conjunction with Maysles Film Center and Harlem Hospital. Most recently, she directed, edited and produced a documentary short titled Frisly, which premiered in April 2014 at the Tribeca Film Festival, received the Tribeca Film Fellows 2014 Creative Excellence Award and went on the screen at the Queens Museum. Her documentaries have been featured in The New York Times and on NBC Voces. Her 2014 The Power of Words contribution included the interactive project titled Truth Booth, by Hank Willis Thomas and A Fork, A Spoon and A Knight, by Mira Nair.