# Deborah Willis and Hank Willis Thomas: A mother and son united by love and art

An art school professor once told Deborah Willis that she, as a woman, was taking a place from a good man — but the storied photographer says she instead made a space for a good man, her son Hank Willis Thomas. In this moving talk, the mother and son artists describe how they draw from one another in their work, how their art challenges mainstream narratives about black life and black joy, and how, ultimately, everything comes down to love.

- Kind: Talk
- By: TED.com
- Genres: Education, History, Children's
- Archive: [Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/DeborahWillisandHankWillisThomas_2)
- Licence or status: [CC BY-NC-ND 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) (as the archive states it)
- Who can watch: Tweens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/ia/DeborahWillisandHankWillisThomas_2?play=1)