The show includes an installation inspired by the artist’s childhood home. CHONA KASINGER
“When I started photo-graphing, my mother was the only person who would pose nude for me,” says Mickalene Thomas. “I didn’t ask her to. I invited her to my studio and said, ‘Just bring what you want me to photograph you in.’ So she brought this really beautiful red negligee.”
She motions to a portrait titled Madame Mama Bush. In the photograph, Sandra Bush, a former runway model, reclines on a couch in a pose reminiscent of one of Matisse’s nudes. The fabrics draped around her—the revealing red nightgown, the vintage floral upholstery, and six different types of animal prints—tell a story of domesticity tinged with wildness.
“I mean, look at my mother,” laughs Thomas. “She’s incredible, right?”