A copper snail is ridden by a Roman-armed man in Hank Willis Thomas' artwork.
An angled image of "History of the Conquest" by Hank Willis Thomas is seen on a sunny day. The material used to create the oversized snail being ridden by a small man is copper. The artwork is now brown and weathered by the elements. The snail has reins tied around its eyes as it lifts its head, while the man wearing Roman armor guides them with the reins in his left hand. The cherub boy sits on the very top of the rounded shell, which is decorated with an accent swirl frame. The man holds in his right hand a long handled whip. The piece of art sits in a gravel oval surrounded by grass, with an iron fence on the left separating the art from a roadway and a shaded area on the right with bushes and large trees. The sun shines down from the upper left, creating a shadow of the artwork on the grass to the right.