Opening Reception | People Everyday

Time & Location

Tue, May 27, 2025 | 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM EST

Liu Shiming Art Gallery, 15 E 40TH ST, 5FL, New York, NY, 10016

About the Event

Join us for the opening reception of People Everyday, a cross-generational exhibition featuring the work of Hank Willis Thomas and Liu Shiming. Curated by Emann Odufu, the exhibition explores both artists’ shared commitment to the human form, caregiving, and community as enduring sources of memory, dignity, and transformation.

Working across vastly different cultural and historical contexts, Thomas and Liu each center “everyday people”—workers, mothers, marchers—as essential agents of social history. Featuring over 35 sculptures, paintings, and prints, People Everyday highlights how ordinary gestures of care and resistance carry the weight of collective change.

About the Artists

Hank Willis Thomas (b. 1976, Plainfield, NJ) is a conceptual artist whose work addresses identity, perspective, media, and the construction of collective memory. His practice spans photography, sculpture, installation, and public art, often incorporating archival imagery and retroreflective materials to activate audience participation. Thomas is the co-founder of For Freedoms, a national platform for civic engagement through art.

Liu Shiming (1926–2010) was a pioneering figure in Chinese sculpture. A graduate of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, Liu’s work blends traditional Chinese aesthetics with modernist influences. He is celebrated for his intimate portrayals of rural life and his distinctive "Chinese Method," which emphasizes narrative and cultural grounding. His works are housed in institutions across Asia, North America, and Europe. In 2018, the Liu Shiming Sculpture Museum was established at CAFA.

More information about exhibition