Carrie Mae Weems
Weems’ provocative work explores how images shape our perceptions of class, gender and race. She photographed herself in this thoughtful, quiet pose to explore the place of African American women in the history of art. Though women have been painted in this traditional pose throughout history, they have not typically been African Americans. When an African American woman was depicted, it was often in a subservient role as in the famous painting French artist Edouard Manet referenced in this work, which you can see here.
