Mary J. Blige, Carrie Mae Weems, African American Art, Black Art, African American Artist, Black Artist, R&B Music, Queen of R&B, KOLUMN Magazine, KOLUMN

Mary J. Blige and Carrie Mae Weems in Conversation: On Race, Women, Music and the Future | W Magazine

African American Art, African American Entertainment ... Posted by: KOLUMN Magazine Staff

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Mary J. Blige and Carrie Mae Weems in Conversation: On Race, Women, Music and the Future | W Magazine

Diane Solway, W Magazine



[dropcap]Weems[/dropcap], who is now 64, first picked up a camera at the age of 18 and over the decades has recast the ways in which black women have been ­portrayed in images. Early on she realized that she couldn’t count on others to make the pictures she wanted to see. In her seminal work The Kitchen Table Series (1990), she ruminates on race, class, and gender in an unfolding domestic story in which she appears as the protagonist. Shot in black and white, with alternating images and panels of text, the series shows the artist at her kitchen table, alone and with others, seated under a hanging lamp, playing cards, chatting with female friends, and hugging a male partner. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″]

Since that career-defining project, Weems, who lives in Syracuse, New York, has been honored with a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant,” a medal of arts from the U.S. State Department, and numerous museum solo shows, including a retrospective in 2014 at New York’s Guggenheim—the museum’s first-ever survey of an African-American female artist. More recently, in her 2016 series Scenes & Take, she photographed herself standing on the empty stage sets of such TV shows as Empire and Scandal, contemplating the cultural climate that gives rise to commanding black heroines onscreen.

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Mary J. Blige, Carrie Mae Weems, African American Art, Black Art, African American Artist, Black Artist, R&B Music, Queen of R&B, KOLUMN Magazine, KOLUMNCarrie Mae Weems | Photo Credit

Mary J. Blige, Carrie Mae Weems, African American Art, Black Art, African American Artist, Black Artist, R&B Music, Queen of R&B, KOLUMN Magazine, KOLUMNCarrie Mae Weems | Photo Credit

Mary J. Blige, Carrie Mae Weems, African American Art, Black Art, African American Artist, Black Artist, R&B Music, Queen of R&B, KOLUMN Magazine, KOLUMNCarrie Mae Weems | Photo Credit

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY & CULTURE | WASHINGTON, DC

The National Museum of African American History and Culture is the only national museum devoted exclusively to the documentation of African American life, history, and culture. It was established by Act of Congress in 2003, following decades of efforts to promote and highlight the contributions of African Americans. To date, the Museum has collected more than 36,000 artifacts and nearly 100,000 individuals have become charter members. The Museum opened to the public on September 24, 2016, as the 19th and newest museum of the Smithsonian Institution. (Website).

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