Artist Mickalene Thomas is facing a new copyright lawsuit filed by photographer Barbara Karant, who says several of her images were used in Thomas's exhibitions and artworks without permission or credit.
The case, filed in Illinois's Northern District Court, centers on Karant's series "820 Ebony/Jet", created from photographs of the former headquarters of Johnson Publishing Company in Chicago. The building once housed the magazines Ebony and Jet, both important references in Black cultural history.
According to the complaint, Karant began photographing the site in 2013 and completed the series in 2015. She says Thomas later incorporated versions of those photographs into installations and collages shown at major galleries and museums, including cropped and pixelated treatments of the images.
The lawsuit also points to Thomas's recent survey exhibition, which traveled from Los Angeles to Philadelphia, London, and Toulouse, and says some works featured direct visual elements from Karant's photographs. One painting cited in the filing reportedly includes a rotated window from Karant's work.
Karant argues that the use of her images was unauthorized and that the works were presented without attribution. The complaint also names several galleries that exhibited Thomas's work. As the case moves forward, it adds another layer to the ongoing conversation around authorship, appropriation, and artistic transformation in contemporary art.
Whatever the legal outcome, the dispute may help shape how future exhibitions balance creative reinterpretation with clearer recognition of original visual sources.
