With Our Tomorrow Happened Yesterday artist Raymond A. Thomas desires to expand our capacity for cultural edification while attempting to create a “virtual” visual portal in time and space. Embedded in the work is an understanding that through an exploration of our past, and other possible dimensions, we may find important information and/or tools to help us navigate these unprecedented times. Thomas states “These new works are my offerings, my reaction, my activation to the quandary which was the year 2020 and beyond. For all of us, this past 18 months were filled with tribulation and awakenings with the arrival of a deadly global pandemic, the rise and fall of Donald Trump, and the worldwide social uprising after the senseless murder of brother George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis. I truly take to heart what our dear sister and cultural icon Nina Simone once said, that it is ‘an artist’s duty to reflect the times’. So, with that, and In the spirit of our African heritage in the traditional ideas of Sankofa, which means ‘Go back and fetch it,’ Our Tomorrow Happened Yesterday came to be.”
Artist Bio:
The desire to create has consumed Raymond A. Thomas for as long as he can remember. Today, this St. Louis native has cultivated his passion into a vibrant artistic practice that continues to expand with purpose and daring. Thomas received a merit scholarship in 1984 to attend the prestigious School of the Art Institute of Chicago where he studied painting, filmmaking and graphic design. In 1988, soon after graduating and receiving his BFA in visual communications, Thomas was hired by Chicago-based Johnson Publishing Company Inc. where he served as art director and creative manager for over 23-years. He also continued his life-long missions of mentoring youth and creating art with showings of his studio works in Chicago and galleries nation-wide. In 2000, Thomas wrote, directed and produced his first film project 12 MINUTES. The 30-minute film short was an official selection to over 20 film festivals worldwide, winning numerous awards and honors. The film, which deals with the issues of mass incarceration and the death penalty, continues to be used in community arts engagement efforts with screenings in correctional facilities nationwide. Thomas has written over a half dozen feature screenplays, several of which have been optioned by major motion picture studios. In 2013, Thomas won an EMMY for serving as an associate producer on the documentary COLORBLIND: Rethinking Race, which aired on television station WYCC in Chicago. Besides his film and art practices, Thomas has also been working as a freelance creative for nearly 30 years, working with national and global brands like AT&T. Thomas has served as a board and committee member for many noted Chicago art institutions including: Little Black Pearl, Black Harvest Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival Black Perspectives Sidebar, Chicago Public Art Group and South Side Community Art Center (SSCAC). Thomas also served as artistic/creative director for SSCAC from 2012-2014 curating some of the Center’s most provocative and well-attended art exhibitions in its 75-year history. In 2013 his piece “The Conversion of Mary Magdalene” won “best painting” and “best of show” awards at the Black Creativity juried art exhibition held by the Museum of Science and industry in Chicago. Thomas is a Four-time recipient (2014, 2015, 2017, 2021) of the Individual Arts Program Creative Projects Grant from the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events Grants Department. In 2015 The Burnham Wildlife Corridor Curatorial Committee, Chicago Park District and The Field Museum awarded Thomas funding, along with 2 other artists, for Sankofa for the Earth, a public art project installed on the Chicago lakefront in 2016. Thomas is currently the creative art director for the Jazz Institute of Chicago. In 2021 Thomas created an art wearable and merchandise brand HEROISM. He is also a resident artist at the Bronzeville Artist Lofts in Chicago.