Untitled, from the Framed by Modernism series
Carrie Mae Weems
American, born 1953
Details
Title
Untitled, from the Framed by Modernism series
Artist/Maker
Carrie Mae Weems (American, born 1953)
Date
1996
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
Contact the museum for more information
Credit
Gift of The National Millennium Survey organized by The College of Santa Fe and the Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego
Accession #
2005.183
Location
Currently not on view
Carrie Mae Weems creates powerful, moving works that interrogate the intertwining of race, gender, sexuality, and politics. This picture is from a 1996 collaboration with painter Robert Colescott. In most of the pictures from this series, an unclothed Weems is tucked into the corner, performing the historically passive role of female models while the painter and his work occupy the center of the image. Here, however, Weems reverses the power dynamic by claiming center stage, standing tall, coolly regarding the viewer as the painter retreats to the corner, hiding his face. For Weems, the piece reveals how both the artist and the model are caught (or framed) within art history’s exclusionary set of values and hierarchies.