from art 21 blog: carrie mae weems

I've always admired her work. She defuses racist and sexist labels. Critique of sexism used to be a part of my own work...i'm sure its still in there somewhere. In the past several years, i've grouped her into self identity art which i felt as if i had grown out of - I also have viewed it as outdated in the art world.

But I was wrong. Just because she became famed for art based in self identity - doesn't mean that is where a growing, changing artist will stay! Of course not! I should sit back and look further instead of throwing ideas into bins and categorizing them in a memory game.

I just saw a blog post on art 21 on her. I could have 'catalogued' her and moved on like i usually do - but luckily i read it. And there is something there that still pertains to my current work I think.

"Weems’s vibrant explorations of photography, video, and verse breathe new life into traditional narrative forms—social documentary, tableaux, self-portrait, and oral history. Eliciting epic contexts from individually framed moments, Weems debunks racist and sexist labels, examines the relationship between power and aesthetics, and uses personal biography to articulate broader truths. Whether adapting or appropriating archival images, restaging famous news photographs, or creating altogether new scenes, she traces an indirect history of the depiction of African Americans for more than a century."

The blog is covering her work, 'Roaming', where she photographs her self amongst the architecture of Rome - a human body dressed all in black silhouetted against the buildings. There is something here that is other than self identity - it is also body and architecture - it opens it up to human vs. human built and the power within that - instead of the narrow(er) focus of self identity. It isn't about her being a black woman. Its about her being a human next to something built to be powerful and overwhelming. It is broader to be a human than to be a woman.

What does that mean? To look at something from the broader vs. narrower p.o.v.? Why have I, in my own work, wanted to let go of self identity (narrower) p.o.v.?

other aspects of her work that I previously ignored:
use of narrative forms to work within
Epic out of personal moment
Power and aesthetics.