Apr 11, 2023 · Megan Hoetger
On Carrie Mae Weems
Considered one of the most influential contemporary American artists, Carrie Mae Weems has sustained an on-going dialogue within contemporary discourse for over thirty years. As her website outlines: She has investigated family relationships, cultural identity, sexism, class, political systems, and the consequences of power, developing a complex body of art employing photographs, text, fabric, audio, digital images, installation, and video.
The Black Speaks Back (BSB) Kitchen Table Talk philosophy is inspired by Weems’s Kitchen Table Series, a suite of photographs first presented in 1990. From 1989, Weems had started to set up her camera in her kitchen in front of a simple wooden table illuminated by a single overhead light. From that table, a fictional life with Weems playing the lead role began to unfold. Initially, there was the span of a romantic relationship—at first warm and intimate, then cold and wanting. Across the scenes, Weems changes roles as others join her in the room. She moves from lover to friend to mother and to herself, alone. The whole spectrum of emotions happens around Weems’ kitchen table. In BSB’s work, Weems’s series serves as point of departure for a community-centred research program, which takes seriously the spectrum of emotions that can be expressed in that communal, domestic space.
The Black Speaks Back (BSB) Kitchen Table Talk philosophy is inspired by Weems’s Kitchen Table Series, a suite of photographs first presented in 1990. From 1989, Weems had started to set up her camera in her kitchen in front of a simple wooden table illuminated by a single overhead light. From that table, a fictional life with Weems playing the lead role began to unfold. Initially, there was the span of a romantic relationship—at first warm and intimate, then cold and wanting. Across the scenes, Weems changes roles as others join her in the room. She moves from lover to friend to mother and to herself, alone. The whole spectrum of emotions happens around Weems’ kitchen table. In BSB’s work, Weems’s series serves as point of departure for a community-centred research program, which takes seriously the spectrum of emotions that can be expressed in that communal, domestic space.
Curious to learn more about BSB’s Kitchen Table Talks?
For more on these gatherings and the creative methodology BSB is developing through them, see their post, The Kitchen Table Talk.
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Curious to read further on Weems’s practice?
Here are a few suggestions:
For more on these gatherings and the creative methodology BSB is developing through them, see their post, The Kitchen Table Talk.
***
Curious to read further on Weems’s practice?
Here are a few suggestions: