Artist Hank Willis Thomas, along with Ryan Alexiev, Jim Ricks, and Will Sylvester recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $75,000 to tour their Truth Booth project to all 50 states before the U.S. presidential election this November.
The Truth Booth, which launched in 2011, is an inflatable and portable speech bubble that serves as a recording booth for the public to speak its truth. Across cities and towns in Ireland, the United States, Afghanistan, and South Africa, people go in the booth and are asked to finish the statement “The truth is” for a two-minute recorded video. Responses range from “The truth—I believe—is Legos. Legos are very small but they allow you to think big!” to “The truth is black women need to write our way back into humanity.”
Courtesy of the artist
“The goal of this tour is to provide the American public with a platform to speak their authentic truths at this critical moment in American history,” said Sylvester.
We spoke with Thomas for Whitewall‘s summer 2015 issue about the project. “I’m a big believer in letting people show their face…The Truth Booth…[is] about democratizing history and what’s important and trying to show that just because you don’t have the degrees or you’re a famous person doesn’t mean that your voice isn’t important. So how do you make that message that everyone has the opportunity to make a difference?” he told us.
Courtesy of the artist
With just under two weeks to reach the funding goal, money raised will help to tour the booth, process the videos that are received, and build an interactive website.
Courtesy of the artist
