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Resist #2

Mickalene Thomas

Resist #2

2021

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Mickalene Thomas

Resist #2

2021

Physical Qualities Acrylic, oil stick, rhinestones, and glitter on canvas, 84 Ă— 108 Ă— 2 in. (213.4 Ă— 274.3 Ă— 5.1 cm.)
Credit Line Purchase with exchange funds from the Pearlstone Family Fund and partial gift of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.
Object Number 2021.13
Created in 2020 during the Black Lives Matter movement, this painting testifies and bears witness to racial discrimination while centering Baltimore as a site of resistance to violent oppression. The painting layers Baltimore history, interweaving images of the 1968 social protests and upheaval following Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination with images from the 300 Men March of 2015, a nonviolent movement formed in response to 25-year-old Freddie Gray’s death from injuries sustained while in police custody. It also highlights Rev. Pamela Coleman, Associate Pastor for Justice Issues at God Can Ministries United Church of Christ, who stood at the front lines of protests both ministering to demonstrators and calling for justice and reform. Thomas collapses these moments into one image, evoking how history repeats itself. Glitter and rhinestones enhance the scene, amplifying its emotional and political urgency.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by purchase, 2021
Christopher Bedford, Asma Naeem, and Katy Siegel, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Now is the Time: Recent Acquisitions to the Contemporary Collection," May 2, 2021 to July 18, 2021.

Baltimore Museum of Art, "Crosscurrents: Works from the Contemporary Collection," February 26, 2025 to September 3, 2026; work on view from February 26, 2025 to September 3, 2025.

Artist

Mickalene Thomas

born Camden, NJ 1971

Meet Mickalene Thomas

Explore the Collection Further

Meleko Mokgosi
Acts of Resistance I
2018
Mickalene Thomas and Brand X Projects
Michelle O
2008
Marcantonio Raimondi and Francesco Francia [Francesco Raibolini]
Temptation and Resistance
n.d.
Félix Bracquemond, Jean Alexandre Joseph Falguière, and others
La Statue de la Résistance
1874
Jar Decorated with Resist Motif
Early 8th century
Jizhou kilns
Tea Bowl Decorated Resist Pattern of Flower Blossoms
12th-13th century
Honoré Daumier
Robert Macaire before his judges. Very well! Yes, gentlemen, I was rather unfortunate at the Assize Court... but misfortune is always respectable!... moreover, it’s true what has been said, I've a habit of subtracting money, it's easier to excuse me than someone else because it's harder for me to resist my weakness... as for the rest, I am accused of selling lead for gold? Twenty witnesses swear to it. Very well! I deny it forty times and since two denials are worth an avowal it's clear that you cannot find me guilty. (after this brilliant improvisation Robert Macaire is condemned with a maximum sentence).
1837