Accessibility, the ingenuity of using limited materials, and true friendship. These were some of the core threads untangled on June 7th when Mickalene Thomas sat down with curator Dexter Wimberly to discuss her current show, Beneath the Moonlight, on view at the Shepherd through August 23, 2026. Famous for her monumental, glittering celebrations of Black women, Thomas shifts her focus to the Black male figure, exploring how they experience moonlight. Speaking intimately about her journey, Thomas shared how vital accessibility is to her largely because established artists refused to respond to her when she was coming up. That determination to remain open and authentic anchors Beneath The Moonlight where she ponders the complexity of Black male representation.
One portrait uses an original photo for the base of the collage-like assemblage. It looks like moonlight contrasted against colorful, cartoonish lines drawn over the figure. The photo seems to represent his humanity fighting against societal stereotypes represented by those lines, confronting the viewer with a gaze that seems to say, “How do you see me?”
Another portrait positions moonlight over the naked body of a Black man resting in his beauty. But the look at his body from a backwards glance brings up a poignant question: Is he relaxing in his own space, or is he a passive object ready to be commodified? Amidst these heavy thematic layers, Thomas also shared a deeply personal note on the exhibition’s creation, revealing how working on Beneath the Moonlight brought her closer to her brother.
Following the dialogue, Terri Lyne Carrington and Social Science had their own complementary conversation via their performance. A centerpiece of their setlist was “Autonomy Song” the powerful lead single from Carrington’s highly anticipated upcoming album, Trip the Night Fantastic, slated for release on July 31st via Candid Record. Carrington, who met the legendary Max Roach as a child, has long carried the torch of radical musical protest. In fact, she and vocalist Christie Dashiell recently earned a 2025 Grammy nomination for We Insist 2025!, their brilliant update on Roach’s seminal Freedom Now Suite.
Reclaiming the narrative around independence and a woman’s right to make choices about her own body, the soulful groove of “Autonomy Song” served as a perfect mirror to the visual layers hanging on the walls. Ultimately, both the song’s fierce declaration of bodily sovereignty ahead of the July 31st album drop and Thomas’s moonlit figures intersect at the exact same profound inquiry—both are active, essential interrogations of freedom.
Editorial Note: All photos and video footage featured in this article were captured live on-site at The Shepherd for news reporting, review, and cultural documentation purposes. All rights to the visual artworks belong entirely to Mickalene Thomas and the Library Street Collective.”
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