What is art’s role in civic life? This is the central question of Hank Willis Thomas’s practice. Working in mediums from photography to sculpture, the Brooklyn-based artist has no shortage of ways to ask the question. Showcasing the last 20 years of Thomas’s work, the Henry Art Gallery features several important series—including “Branded” and “Unbranded”—in which the artist underscores the racism and dehumanization behind corporate media strategies. “The most revolutionary thing a person can do is be open to change,” says Thomas, whose works afford the pivotal first step: revealing systems of inequality for what they are. —Clara Molot