Norman Rockwell’s “Four Freedoms” series presented an image of America intended to bolster patriotic spirit during World War II. Based on a 1941 speech by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in which he extolled the global right to freedom of speech and worship, freedom from want, and the freedom from fear, Rockwell’s canvases were a celebration of Americana.

It was, however, a selective celebration.

When Rockwell made these paintings in 1943, Japanese-Americans were imprisoned in internment camps while African-American soldiers who grew up under Jim Crow fought in segregated units. “At that time in America, it seems what it meant to be American was white Anglo-Saxon,” said the photographer and conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas. “We want to shine a light on the fact that artist s’ work is often political and shapes culture and society.”