The “All About Love” exhibition in Toulouse, or the fighting art of Mickalene Thomas

Mickalene Thomas's exhibition, which concludes its run this summer in Toulouse, at the Abattoirs, after stops in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and London, is entitled "All About Love." It could have been called "All About Me," not out of egocentricity, but because Thomas's work constantly moves from the particular to the general, from her personal trajectory—that of an African-American born in New Jersey in 1971, who attended several universities and graduated from Yale University in Connecticut in 2002—to the social and political state of the United States today.

At first glance, the artist is very present in her works. On many occasions, she is her own model and, for the video Me as Muse , in 2016 , films herself naked. Even more often, she uses her intimates as models: her mother, her lovers and her friends. As for her installations, they recreate the apartments of her grandmother and mother, floral sofas, family photos, record covers and knick-knacks.

However, these works are not autobiographical, revealing nothing personal or indiscreet. Staging herself and telling her life story like Sophie Calle is not her goal. Hers is of a different magnitude: the critical study of representations of Black women in the history of Western art and in contemporary North American society. And particularly those relating to romantic and erotic relationships. Because it is abundant, organized by chapters, and includes all of Thomas's modes of expression, the exhibition strongly demonstrates this. There is a constant logic here and a great mastery of visual means.

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