Art of the self, but not just
At a recent reception, an eager crowd followed MacArthur genius and 2015 W.E.B. Du Bois Medalist Carrie Mae Weems as she wound her way through the Ethelbert Cooper Gallery of African & African American Art, stopping frequently to explain the thinking or inspiration behind her work. Many posed for pictures with the artist standing next to her images. Taken from her “Roaming” and “Museums” portfolios, the black-and-white prints show Weems, in a long black dress, standing with her back to the camera before a number of Roman landmarks and grand European museums. In the pictures she uses her body “as a vehicle for pointing at structures of power,” she told her listeners, and “to understand something about space, something about the power of architecture, how it rules over us … seduces us.” She also uses her body as a stand-in for the masses, she said, and as a way to guide viewers...