Preston Lewis Thomas

I make photographs of what surrounds me, filling in the interstitial spaces of photojournalism, street photography and fine art - without privileging either form. I believe something fabulous resides in the ordinary.

My influences are many – photographers, musicians, painters, writers, etc. Presently living rent free in my head: Gordon Parks, Avedon, Van Der Zee, Brigitte Lacombe, Warhol, Basquiat, Norman Lewis, Fan Ho, Ansel Adams, Keith Jarrett, Laurie Anderson, Joni Mitchell, Bill T. Jones’ “A Good Man”, Miles (of course, Miles!), and Isabel Wilkerson.

Focus.
- plt

Self.

2024 Policy of Truth | Bridgeport Art Center

2024 Migrations in Black and White | Evanston Arts Center

2023 Connecting to Our Common Ground | Brushwood Center, PBS America Outdoors

2019: Discussion & Slide Presentation: Memory and Archive, Mana Contemporary Chicago: Morning Prayer Lake

2019: Photo Exhibit: LA HABANA | Lens Paintings from Dreamland

2019: Photo Exhibit: The Adjacent Shore

2018: Photo Exhibit: Surface + Texture

2018: Photo Exhibit: Faces from the Women’s March, Chicago

2017: Photographs from my series Dance Encounters Architecture Licensed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects - lead architects of the Obama Library

2017: Photo Exhibit: Wanderlust and Dreamland in La Habana

2017: Photo Exhibit: Through My Lens, A Black Girl’s Magic

2015: Featured Artist in the Harlem Fine Arts Show “Beyond Color” Exhibit