Black Survival Guide, or How to Live Through a Police Riot

Black Survival Guide, or How to Live Through a Police Riot, a series of fourteen large-scale retroreflective screen prints, interprets and employs archival documents from the Delaware Historical Society and photographs of the 1968 National Guard occupation of Wilmington taken by News Journal staff. Commissioned by the Delaware Art Museum from renowned conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas, this work confronts gaps in our collective histories by centering lesser known stories in the search for truth. Viewers participate in the experience using direct light sources to reveal alternate images not visible to the naked eye.

First stages [Black Survival Guide, or How to Live Through a Police Riot], 2018, Hank Willis Thomas (born 1976), Screen print on retroreflective vinyl with aluminum backing, 62 x 48 inches. Delaware Art Museum, F. V. du Pont Acquisition Fund, 2019. Commissioned by the Delaware Art Museum. Photograph of Wilmington Riots and National Guard Occupation by Godfrey C. Pitts, 1968. Courtesy of The News Journal. Text from Northeast Conservation Association, Black Survival Guide, or How to Live Through a Police Riot, c. 1960s. Daniels Collection, courtesy of the Delaware Historical Society. © Hank Willis Thomas.

How to Live through a Police Riot [Black Survival Guide, or How to Live Through a Police Riot], 2018, Hank Willis Thomas (born 1976), Screen print on retroreflective vinyl with aluminum backing, 62 x 48 inches. Delaware Art Museum, F. V. du Pont Acquisition Fund, 2019. Commissioned by the Delaware Art Museum. Photograph of Wilmington Riots and National Guard Occupation by Frank Fahey, 1968. Courtesy of The News Journal. Text from Northeast Conservation Association, Black Survival Guide, or How to Live Through a Police Riot, c. 1960s. Daniels Collection, courtesy of the Delaware Historical Society. © Hank Willis Thomas.

Get Tickets

Available in Our Store

Organizers & Sponsors

This exhibition was organized by the Delaware Art Museum. Sponsored by WSFS Bank, Bank of America, and DuPont. This exhibition was supported, in part, by a grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts. The Division promotes Delaware arts events on www.DelawareScene.com.