Hooks-Epstein Galleries proudly presents "A House Divided", a new series of works by Houston-based artist, Prince Varughese Thomas, taking place in conjunction with FotoFest 2026: The International Biennial of Photography. The exhibition opens Saturday, February 28, 2026 with a Reception for the Artist from 5:00PM-7:00PM.
Prince Varughese Thomas’ "A House Divided" is a series of works that reflects the fractured pulse of the contemporary moment. Borrowing its title from a biblical warning later invoked by Abraham Lincoln, the phrase becomes a mirror catching the light and shadow of the present age. The works in this series stand in the now, where the seams of the community strain, and fault lines run through shared spaces and private lives.
Within this fractured landscape, national symbols such monuments, flags, and currency are transformed into sites of inquiry confronting a complex and difficult past and present. Meticulously layered camouflage patterns interrupt the legibility of civic icons, drawing attention to what is hidden, protected, or deliberately obscured in the stories a nation tells about itself. The camouflage becomes than the surface; it serves as a metaphor for the concealment and manipulation of identity, history, and power, revealing cracks under a seemingly unified surface.
Through the act of seeing, the viewer becomes both witness and participant, encountering quiet ruptures alongside fragile, flickering signs of unity. The works consider the architecture of belonging and the ways it falters as divisions deepen and the walls between communities grow taller than the bridges built to connect them. "A House Divided" stands as both, a record of disunity and an elegy for what might yet be mended, holding within it the ache of separation and the persistence of hope—the believe that what has been split might, in time, be made whole.
Prince Varughese Thomas is an interdisciplinary artist whose work examines the intersections of culture, identity, and social commentary through drawing, photography, video, and installation. He has presented work in more than 275 solo and group exhibitions at museums and galleries worldwide, including the Atlanta Contemporary (GA), Queens Museum (NY), Art Museum of Southeast Texas, and Amarillo Museum of Art (TX). Thomas’ artistic impact has been recognized by the City of Houston, the Andy Warhol Foundation, and the Joan Mitchell Foundation. He holds a B.A. in Psychology from University of Texas at Arlington and an M.F.A. from the University of Houston. Thomas serves as a Professor of Art at Lamar University (TX).
Prince Varughese Thomas’ "A House Divided" is funded in part by the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance.
