Weekly Selfie #1 - Kitchen Table/Roaming

Weekly Selfie #1 - Kitchen Table/Roaming 

 Carrie Mae Weems - "Roaming"

Recreation of "Roaming" 

    Shown above is my interpretation of Roaming by Carrie Mae Weems, as well as a photograph from her original series to compare. My attempt was to display a dark, eerie feeling through my portrait; similar to Weems's series. I am wearing all black to mimic her and to appear mysterious. I also have my back faced away towards a wide open scenery, recreating the depth that Weems utilizes. My main focus was to replicate the suspenseful and interpretive nature of this series.

Susan Sontag - On Photography

"They are stuck in albums, framed and set on tables, tacked on walls, projected as slides. Newspapers and magazines feature them; cops alphabetize them; museums exhibit them; publishers compile them."

"Photographs really are experience captured, and the camera is the ideal arm of consciousness in its acquisitive mood."

    On Photography by Susan Sontag does a great job at discussing the question of the purpose of photography to the audience. Photographs capture anything and everything, and they can be viewed in nearly every area of society. Photographs capture real, undoubtable time and experience; something other mediums cannot quite do. It is a conscious art that is utilized to render emotion, but it also used as a tool. Sontag is able to explain the importance of photography and how it helps us understand the world we live in. 

Jacqui Palumbo - Revisiting Carrie Mae Weems's Landmark "Kitchen Table Series"

"Weems’s black-and-white photographs are like mirrors, each reflecting a collective experience: how selfhood shifts through passage of time; the sudden distance between people, both passable and impassable; the roles that women accumulate and oscillate between; how life emanates from the small space we occupy in the world."

"It’s not just Black women; it’s white women, Asian women. Men can see the women in their lives—memories from their childhood or scenes from their marriage or their family life. It’s so universal and yet representation like this is so rare.”

    Upon reading Jacqui Palumbo's article regarding the Kitchen Table Series by Carrie Mae Weems, I am moved by the raw emotion that is displayed through these photographs. Weems's work can speak to many audiences as it documents the real-life familial struggle through the strength of a woman. As someone who is born to a hispanic woman, whose strength is beyond admirable, the reality of this series is extremely moving. Not only is it representing women; but it is examining the true life of a woman over time, through day-to-day strains. I feel that Palumbo is able to describe Weems's work in a way that is relatable and understanding to the audience. 

Megan O'Grady - How Carrie Mae Weems Rewrote the Rules of Image-Making

"Photography can enslave and revictimize, Weems has shown us; it can also, potentially, set us free from our inherited bias and expectations."

"Weems’s work represented the first time an African-American woman could be seen reflecting her own experience and interiority in her art."

    O'Grady does a great job at telling the life of living photographer Carrie Mae Weems. Throughout the article, we are given insight into Weems's creative world and ways. We are shown a very honest life of an artist who comes from a strugglesome background, using her work to depict life as she knows it. Through her photography and other various medias, Weems has been able to dive into contemporary issues including identity, racism, sexism, and politics. O'Grady's article is very detailed in the way it enters the world of Carrie Mae Weems, alluding that she could be considered one of today's most influential artists living in America today.