CARRIE MAE WEEMS | The Heart of the Matter

For more than four decades, she has explored questions of power and memory through photography, video, and installations. In her work, she particularly examines and addresses constructions of race and femininity in order to develop new ways of living.

The exhibition spans from early key works to current pieces and, with more than 100 photographs and videos, showcases the depth and diversity of an artistic practice that combines personal experiences with social and historical issues. Carrie Mae Weems is one of the most influential contemporary artists.

In her work, she explores how images write history, shape memory, and determine who is seen and who remains invisible. Drawing on her own life story, she has developed a body of work that extends far beyond the personal and addresses questions of identity, belonging, and representation. In doing so, she employs documentary, staged, and conceptual strategies to develop a visual language that is as poetic as it is political.

Among her early works is the series *Family Pictures and Stories* (1978–1984), in which Weems combines photographs of family members with autobiographical texts. The family appears not only as a private sphere that defines personal relationships but also as a vehicle for collective memory and cultural identity. With the iconic *Kitchen Table Series* (1990), Weems turns her attention to the domestic space as a stage for interpersonal relationships. Seated at the kitchen table, she stages herself in various roles and explores questions of love, partnership, motherhood, gender roles, and self-determination. The images draw on numerous references to literature, music, and art history, including Langston Hughes and Roy DeCarava’s *The Sweet Flypaper of Life*, as well as song lyrics that complement the multifaceted visual language. Today, the series ranks among the most significant works of contemporary photography and marks a turning point in Weems’ artistic exploration of identity and representation.

The exhibition ranges from the private sphere of authentic and staged family life to a public understanding of places and environments.

From film studios and plantations in the American South to museums and monuments around the world, the exhibition focuses in particular on how these places are perceived and whose perspective they reflect.

Carrie Mae Weems (born 1953 in Portland, Oregon, USA) is one of the most influential contemporary artists, whose work challenges conventional perspectives on history. For more than four decades, she has been developing a multifaceted body of work encompassing photography, text, fabric, audio, digital images, installation, and video, giving voice to people and stories that have long been overlooked or silenced. She has received numerous awards for her artistic work, including a MacArthur Fellowship, the National Medal of Arts, the Joseph H. Hazen Rome Prize Fellowship from the American Academy in Rome, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. Her works are represented in major collections worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, and the Tate Modern in London.

Exhibition: September 12, 2026 – February 3, 2027

Opening: September 11, 2026, 8:00 p.m.