Carrie Mae Weems

Best known for her photography, Carrie Mae Weems is a contemporary American artist who works in text, fabric, audio, digital, and installation video. Through her work, she navigates themes of family, cultural identity, sexism, class, and power. Carrie Mae Weems was born in Portland, Oregon in 1953 and became interested in the arts in 1965. Her introduction to the arts was through dance and the theater and now uses this background in her work today. She didn’t start taking pictures until 1973 when she received her first camera as a gift. 

She became a prominent photographer through her “The Kitchen Table” series in the 1990s which consists of 20 staged photos of Weems sitting at the end of a kitchen table under a lamp. The series is located in the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Detroit Institute of Arts. Through this series, Weems creates a story of a fictional life in which she is the lead. Many of her viewers saw her work as an influential moment for Black representation in art, however, the series is not about race. After this series, Weems has gone on to produce prolific works of photographs as well as video work.

Presentation: Carrie Mae Weems