While working on a host of spectacular collages, Mickalene Thomas welcomed Art Basel to her Brooklyn studio. Among the monumental cut-outs and jars of sequins, she talked about the women who inspired her: from actress Pam Grier and model Naomi Sims to everyday heroines like the beauty queens in the iconic African American magazine Jet. Collectively, they epitomized the Black is Beautiful movement – and ushered in a new era. ‘These women were defining another way of looking at beauty,’ Thomas says. ‘It’s not just the surface, it’s also the actions.’