Carrie Mae Weems

 Carrie Mae Weems is an American artists best known for her work in the world of photography. She is best known for her project,  The Kitchen Table Series. Carrie Mae Weems has made works addressing racism, sexism, politics, and more. She tends to focus on relationships, class, cultural identities, and systems that effect every day lives in and outside the community. 

With The Kitchen Table Series, Weems took the perspective of relationships with different people at this one kitchen table. In this series we see how Weems is warm and loving to her partner, being a mother to her daughter, and how she is when alone. Also in the series, we see a shift in temperature within relationships. As the events go on, we see the atmosphere get colder as she navigates relationships. She even looks at the camera at various moments insinuating that this is about her especially because the other characters did not do the same. It is as if we are seeing her point of view but from a narratives perspective. 

One thing that I enjoyed about this series is the fact that it is a story about a Black women who in this society is underrepresented and overlooked. The emotions, feelings, and experience that Black women go through isn't necessarily recognized and so when this series was published, people were able to see what life is like. In an article on artsy about the series created by Carrie Mae Weems, it was recognized that the project itself was "a seminal moment for Black representation in art, influencing an entire generation of artists who rarely saw their own selves reflected back on museum walls. This series gave people of color, specifically Black people a platform in which they are seen in the comfort of their home, specifically a kitchen table and how this shows the lives of many people of color. This series takes a look at life from a different perspective and I appreciate the fact that the setting didn't change but the feeling behind each image did. Carrie Mae Weems is an inspiring artist especially for someone like me.