Carrie Mae Weems
Born in 1953, Portland, Oregon
1981 BFA California Institute of the Arts, Valencia
1984 MFA University of California, San Diego
1984–1987 Graduate Program in Folklore, University of California, Berkeley
Selected museum exhibitions: McMullen Museum of Art, Boston (2018); Hutchins Center for African & African American Research, Harvard University (2016); The Studio Museum in Harlem (2014); Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville (2013); Art Institute of Chicago (2011); Newcomb Art Gallery, Tulane University (2003); Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Massachusetts (2000); Sarah Moody Gallery of Art, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa (1994); Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (1991)
Selected honors: Distinguished Feminist Award, College Art Association (2016); International Center of Photography Spotlights Award (2015); W.E.B. Du Bois Medal, Harvard University (2015); John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (2013); Medal of Arts, U.S. Department of State (2012); Anonymous Was a Woman Award (2007); Joseph H. Hazen Rome Prize Fellowship, American Academy (2005); The Alpert Award for Visual Arts (1996)
Selected public collections: Art Institute of Chicago; Brooklyn Museum; George Eastman House, Rochester, New York; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; MIT List Visual Arts Center; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Tate Modern, London; Virginia Museum of Art, Richmond; Whitney Museum of American Art
Begun in 2006, Carrie Mae Weems’ Museum series are photographs of the artist’s back as she stands outside museums worldwide. In this work, we see the Philadelphia Museum’s iconic staircase and the vast plaza, which is empty save for Weems and a pile of litter. As a black woman artist, Weems’ use of her own image in these works bring to the fore the racial and gender barriers to institutional success – a theme made more complex by the scaffolding and large banners announcing a Frida Kahlo exhibition on the museum’s façade.