Carrie Mae Weems

American, born 1953

Carrie Mae Weems is a leading contemporary American artist. Through photography, sculpture, video, and public art, she examines identity, race, and power.

Born in Portland, Oregon, in 1953, Weems became interested in art as a child. Her early photography series Family Pictures and Stories featured her close-knit family. The images capture their experience as part of the small Black community in Portland.

In her work, Weems explores how narrative and visual histories misrepresent or fail to include Black people. In the process, she constructs her own stories. Her Kitchen Table Series (1990) depicts a woman grappling with relationship dynamics and motherhood. The images narrate the rich tapestry of a Black woman’s life.

Weems’s work has appeared in museums across the United States. In 2014, she became the first Black woman to have a solo exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. The artist currently lives in Syracuse, New York.

Explore Selected Works

Carrie Mae Weems, Maurice Sánchez, Sequra Arts Studio, All the Boys, 2017, color offset lithograph on Somerset Satin paper, Gift of the Collectors Committee, 2018.70.1

All the Boys

Carrie Mae Weems, Maurice Sánchez, Sequra Arts Studio · 2017 · color offset lithograph on Somerset Satin paper ·  Accession ID  2018.70.1

Carrie Mae Weems, Echoes for Marian, 2014, chromogenic print, Gift of Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder, 2021.8.1

Echoes for Marian

Carrie Mae Weems · 2014 · chromogenic print ·  Accession ID  2021.8.1

Carrie Mae Weems, Slow Fade to Black II, 2010, 17 inkjet prints, Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund, 2014.84.1.a-q

Slow Fade to Black II

Carrie Mae Weems · 2010 · 17 inkjet prints ·  Accession ID  2014.84.1.a-q

Carrie Mae Weems, After Manet, 2002, printed 2015, chromogenic print, Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund, 2015.75.1

After Manet

Carrie Mae Weems · 2002, printed 2015 · chromogenic print ·  Accession ID  2015.75.1

Three young Black girls lie on the grass in this closely cropped, sepia-toned, circular photograph so their faces roughly line up near the center. At the bottom of the composition, one girl lies on her back and looks up into the sky. Her head, torso, and right arm are visible. She wears a floral-patterned dress and holds her right hand up to the top of her head. The second girl reclines on her right side behind the first, so she is angled to our left. She props her head in her right hand and looks steadily at us. Her face hovers at the center of the composition. She wears a white t-shirt and a garland encircles her head. The third girl, at the top of the composition, seems to prop her body up on her left elbow. She wears a floral dress and looks down and to our right. Grass and paving rocks fill the space behind her.
Carrie Mae Weems, May Flowers, 2002, printed 2013, chromogenic print, Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund, 2014.3.1

May Flowers

Carrie Mae Weems · 2002, printed 2013 · chromogenic print ·  Accession ID  2014.3.1

Carrie Mae Weems, Segura Publishing Company, Not Manet's Type, 2001, offset photolithograph in black on wove paper, Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase), 2015.19.3336

Not Manet's Type

Carrie Mae Weems, Segura Publishing Company · 2001 · offset photolithograph in black on wove paper ·  Accession ID  2015.19.3336

Carrie Mae Weems, Untitled, 1996, printed 2020, 7 inkjet prints with sandblasted text on glass in wood frames, Patrons' Permanent Fund, 2020.96.1.a-g

Untitled

Carrie Mae Weems · 1996, printed 2020 · 7 inkjet prints with sandblasted text on glass in wood frames ·  Accession ID  2020.96.1.a-g

Carrie Mae Weems, Run, Nigger, Run, 1992, gelatin silver print and screenprint on paper, Corcoran Collection (Gift of the Friends of the Corcoran Gallery of Art), 2014.136.411.a-b

Run, Nigger, Run

Carrie Mae Weems · 1992 · gelatin silver print and screenprint on paper ·  Accession ID  2014.136.411.a-b

Twelve lines of black text in all capital letters are printed on a square, beige-colored sheet of paper. The lines are centered down the page and divided into four groups set in progressively smaller type sizes. Near the top, the largest text reads, “THE KITCHEN TABLE SERIES.” In smaller text below, “CARRIE MAE WEEMS.” Immediately below that, again in smaller text, “A PORTFOLIO OF TWENTY PLATINUM PRINTS, FOURTEEN TEXT SHEETS, EDITION OF TEN, TWO ARTIST’S PROOFS, WINTER 2003.” The remaining text is printed in five lines at the bottom center of the sheet: “DESIGNED WITH PAMELA VANDERZWAN, PHOTOGRAPHS PRINTED BY JOHN MARCY OF NORTHAMPTON PHOTOGRAPHIC, TEXT PRINTED BY PETER KRUTY EDITIONS, FUNDED WITH GENEROUS SUPPORT, BY PETER NORTON.” Between the text at the center of the sheet and the five lines along the bottom, the artist signed the sheet in graphite: “Carrie M. Weems 9/10.”
Carrie Mae Weems, Kitchen Table Series, 1990, printed 2003, portfolio of 20 platinum/palladium prints and 14 screenprints, Gift of the Collectors Committee, and Robert B. Menschel and the Vital Projects Fund, 2017.4.1.1-34

Kitchen Table Series

Carrie Mae Weems · 1990, printed 2003 · portfolio of 20 platinum/palladium prints and 14 screenprints ·  Accession ID  2017.4.1.1-34

Carrie Mae Weems, Mom at Work, 1978–1984, gelatin silver print, Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund, 2022.108.1

Mom at Work

Carrie Mae Weems · 1978–1984 · gelatin silver print ·  Accession ID  2022.108.1