Preston Lewis Thomas | Curriculum Vitae
I am a photographer, musician, and writer. 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.
I seek to recount a story with every photograph. Sometimes, my subjects are the humans I encounter who are moved to share amusing anecdotes, or emotionally exhausting experiences from days gone by. On occasion, my muse is an empty room that is, paradoxically, teeming with life. Everything I see wants to be a photograph…
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
Photographic Exhibitions
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
Symposiums & Teaching
2017: Photographic Symposium for the Chicago Architecture Biennial: Dance Encounters Architecture
2016 - 2017: Teaching Artist for the University of Chicago's Logan Center for the Arts
Awards
2016: Recipient of the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs (DCASE) Individual Artist Grant
Collections
Dance Encounters Architecture: Licensed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects
Work currently held in Private Collections: United States, Canada, UK, Argentina