Weekly Selfie | Kitchen Table Series | Navdeep Sanghera

Recreated from Table Series

The photograph I took was inspired by Carrie Mae Weems from her Kitchen Table series. I had chosen this photograph of Carrie Mae Weems sitting at the table playing cards. I found it more appealing and fun to recreate. I set up my selfie as an interaction with the viewer, us playing cards casually on a Friday night. A point of view in a hangout with your genuine friend to unwind. I discarded the wine glass, as it didn't suit my narrative.  

Carrie Mae Weems, Kitchen Table Series. 1990

On Photography Susan Sontag

 The immensely gifted members of the Farm Security Administration photographic project of the late 1930s (among them Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Ben Shahn, Russell Lee) would take dozens of frontal pictures of one of their sharecropper subjects until satisfied that they had gotten just the right look on film -- the precise expression on the subject's face that supported their own notions about poverty, light, dignity, texture, exploitation, and geometry. 

 In deciding how a picture should look, in preferring one exposure to another, photographers are always imposing standards on their subjects.  

I examine this quote through the lens of an auteur, the photographers are staging the scene in this photograph. They are crafting their artistic view by operating and changing the subjects, the backdrop of the setting, the photo composition, and any colors, shapes, or textures to evocate their envisionment to a documented record. Photography makes you the director of your narrative, you create the rules using your unique - artistic style. 

Revisiting Carrie Mae Weems’s Landmark “Kitchen Table Series” Jacqui Palumbo

 In the final scenes, alone, she locks eyes with the camera. She finds pleasure, and comfort, with herself.

"I knew what it meant for me, but I didn’t know what it would mean historically."

The photograph of Carrie Mae Weems in a state of somber and solitude is appealing, she is comforting herself. Being in solitude with yourself, there is a distinct comfort and feeling compared to receiving from others. You are your own person only you know yourself well with a built-in motivation that kicks in after a state of sadness. Carrie Mae Weems humbly mentions in an interview she made these collections for herself in recording what she wanted to evocate. It showcases how a humbled artist she is, Weems simply wanted to photograph her multifaceted life as a Black woman. She had no expectations she would have become a known contemporary photographer. 

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

Looking through the Black Photographers Annual, she saw her future in artists — mostly men — who looked like her, who were doing the kind of work she wanted to be doing, and in 1976, she tried New York again. “I came to New York to be with them, to see them, to talk to them, to interview them, to study with them, to become their friends, to see their exhibitions,” she remembers.

“Men put me down as the best woman painter. I think I’m one of the best painters.” This marginalization, being categorized as “black artist” or “woman artist” rather than simply artist, is something Weems has dealt with her entire career.

When Carrie Mae Weems entered into photography it was only a male-dominated sphere. She recognizes being the only black female photographer series in her career of learning. Her output intrigues me, she works with them as colleagues putting gender aside. She wanted to learn the best from her colleagues who shared similar interests. I agree with Carrie Mae Weems, I wouldn't want my race or gender to categorize me as a creator when my output of work matters more.