Carrie Mae Weems a Biography Timeline

Carrie Mae Weems a biography Timeline Carrie Mae Weems was born in Portland, Weems has said. “I knew that I would emulate what they had begun.” In 1976, she returned to as well as the lack of both subjects and artists of color Oregon, on April 20, 1953, as the second of New York to seek mentorship with these photographers. While working as a secretary, Weems in the art historical canon. The artist’s later work is seven children. After graduating high school studied photography at the Studio Museum in Harlem, an important hub for black artists largely characterized by an interest in the lack of black in 1970, she moved to San Francisco with and thinkers in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood. She shuttled representation in both historical 1950 her friend, film director Catherine Jelski between New York and California throughout the late 1970s and early and art historical narratives, and 1953 Carrie Mae Weems is born (b. 1953), and was invited to dance in Anna 1980s, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the California Institute of Arts especially in the attempt by black on April 20 in Portland, OR Halprin’s (b. 1920) troupe. Halprin is a in 1981 and a Master of Arts degree in photography from the University artists to reclaim and rewrite the pioneering figure in the postmodern dance of California, San Diego in 1984. record. In her 2006 series Roaming, movement and helped redefine it in post-war Weems primarily works in series, creating groups of images that Weems poses with her back to the America. Weems headed to New York City correspond to an overarching theme or idea. Her first major body of camera in historically significant in 1971, however, failing to find work, she work was titled Family Pictures and Stories (1981–1982). This project sites throughout Europe, serving as soon returned to San Francisco and became Carrie Mae Weems (American, b. 1953), From Family consists of intimate portraits of Weems’ own tight-knit family and is silent witness to history and urging involved with leftist political organizations. Pictures and Stories, 1981–1982 accompanied by text recounting anecdotes about her subjects. Weems the viewer to consider her presence 1960 When the artist turned twenty years old, her has continued to bring together text and images in her work. Two series, in spaces normally unwelcoming boyfriend, who was also an organizer in a local Marxist group, gave Ain’t Jokin’ (1987–1988) and American Icons (1988–1989), call attention to the normalization to people of color. Carrie Mae Weems (American, b. 1953), African Jewels Installation at Jack Weems her first camera. She began photographing their organization’s of racist imagery and dialogue in our culture. In 1990, Weems created Kitchen Table Series, a Weems’ influence is wide- Shainman Gallery, 2009 (Photo by Larry Qualls) meetings, family, friends, and herself. breakthrough project that remains an iconic example of the artist’s use of self-portraiture. reaching and significant, and her Weems first saw the work of other artists of color in theBlack Weems created the series From Here I Saw What Happened and I Cried from 1995 to I KNEW, NOT FROM MEMORY, work continues to be exhibited and collected nationally and internationally. She has been awarded Photographers Annual, which was published from 1973 to 1980 and 1996. Working with found imagery, she draws on historical events and photographs in order to BUT FROM HOPE, THAT THERE WERE OTHER numerous prizes, including the MacArthur “Genius” Grant and the Congressional Black Caucus MODELS BY WHICH TO LIVE Carrie Mae Weems, MacArthur Foundation Fellow, Class of 2013 featured prominent black cultural producers, such as Roy DeCarava examine the way images shape our view of history. At the time, Weems was also reflecting on Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award, both in 2013. In 2014, Weems was the subject of (Photo credit: John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation) (1919–2009), Dawoud Bey (b. 1953), and Toni Morrison (b. 1931). the lack of black representation in the art world. Framed by Modernism (1996) and Not Manet’s Carrie Mae Weems (American, b. 1953), Not a retrospective at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City, becoming the first Carrie Mae Weems, 2012 (Photo by Jerry Klineberg) “I truly saw the possibility for myself—as both subject and artist,” Type (1997) both address the imbalance of power between white male artists and their models, Manet’s Type, 1997 African American woman to receive this honor. 1970 1970 Moves to San Francisco; joins Anna Halprin’s modern dance troupe Weems as the Subject 1973 Receives first camera 1976 Meets American photographer and educator Dawoud Bey 1978 Lives bi-coastally until 1981; works as Anthony Barboza’s assistant 1980 1981 Receives BFA from the California Institute of the Arts 1984 Exhibits Family Pictures and Stories at Multicultural Gallery, San Diego; receives MFA Carrie Mae Weems (American, b. 1953), Kitchen Tables Series, 1990 from University of California, San Diego Carrie Mae Weems has shared that she “had a really…. deep sense of [her] body from a very early age.” Before 1990 she received her first camera, she danced in choreographer Anna Halprin’s (b. 1920) workshop. Halprin’s work 1991 Participates in Carrie Mae Weems (American, b. 1953), engages with the social and communal roles of dance, such as the impact of practicing kinesthetic awareness with the Whitney Biennial The Louisiana Project, 2003 individuals who have terminal illnesses. Although Weems is drawn toward visual art, she has rooted her practice in the awareness of her physical body that developed during her time as a dancer. Weems often serves as the subject in her work, saying, “I use my own constructed image as a vehicle for 1993 Moves to Paris; National Museum of Women in the Arts publishes questioning ideas…underscoring the critical problems and the possible resolves.” However, the artist does not catalogue Carrie Mae Weems in conjunction with her first major museum exhibition think of these photographs as self-portraits. Rather, Weems explains that “this woman can stand in for me and for you; she can stand in 1994 Returns to New York City; for the audience.” Weems’ Kitchen Table Series (1990), comprising moves to Syracuse, NY in 1996 twenty photographs and fourteen text panels, constructs a loose 2000 narrative around an unnamed character—played by the artist—and her interactions with her family, friends, and partner. Through this character’s relationships with others, the artist examines what it means 2005–2006 Tours Europe to be a black woman and how it shapes life in her domestic space. In her 2006 series Roaming, Weems poses with her back to the camera in sites across the world that represent historical oppression. The artist describes this stand-in character: “[she is] a witness and a 2013 Becomes MacArthur Foundation Fellow; guide…. Carrying a tremendous burden, she is a black woman leading receives Lifetime Achievement Award from the me through the trauma of history. I think it’s very important that as a Carrie Mae Weems (American, Congressional Black Caucus Foundation YOU BECAME MAMMIE, MAMA, MOTHER & DESCENDING THE THRONE YOU BECAME black woman she’s engaged with the world around her; she’s engaged 2010 b. 1953), Lincoln, Lonnie, and Me THEN, YES, CONFIDANT-HA FOOT SOLDIER & COOK with history, she’s engaged with looking, with being. She’s a guide into Carrie Mae Weems (American, b. 1953), Roaming, 2006 Installation view, 2012 2014 Becomes first African American woman to circumstances seldom seen.” have a retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum Much like From Here I Saw What Happened and I Cried (1995–1996), this series questions the dynamics Carrie Mae Weems between the powerful and the powerless in history. In Roaming, rather than attempting to retroactively return American, b. 1953 power to those who lost it, Weems uses her role as both subject and photographer to challenge the exclusivity of 2017 Named one of the 100 most influential these spaces and defy history by being present and observing in these historically charged places. Weems explains women of all time by Ebony magazine 1995, from the series “From Here I Saw What Happened and I Cried” that rewriting history is essential to her work and to the process of coming to terms with historical trauma. chromogenic development print and sandblasted glass, 26 3/4 x 22 3/4 in. (67.95 x 57.79 cm), Museum purchase, 1997.19.A, 1997.19.B Examining Racism through Photography From Here I Saw What Happened and I Cried (1995–1996) consists of thirty-three framed photographed the historical images from these archives for this project without securing Throughout her Weems’ series Ain’t Jokin’ (1987–1988) and American Icons (1988–1989) photographs with superimposed text. For this series, Carrie Mae Weems employs permission from the institutions that held them. She then increased the size of the images career, Carrie highlight how normalized racial stereotypes are in American culture. Ain’t photographic appropriation, a strategy in which artists use found images and alter them to make them consistent with one another and tinted them red, a color evocative of blood Mae Weems has Jokin’ consists of six images of black people, each captioned either with in their own work. Weems combed through universities’ and museums’ photographic and violence. The artist framed each with a black circular matte–to mimic the camera used photography a joke or a statement that relies on racial stereotypes for its punchline. collections where she discovered pictures taken by Swiss naturalist Louis Agassiz, who lens–and sandblasted text into the glass over each image.

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