Untitled (Woman brushing hair)
Untitled (Woman brushing hair)
Artist
Carrie Mae Weems
(born 1953)
Date1990, printed 2015
MediumGelatin silver print
Dimensions28 1/4 × 28 1/4 in. (71.8 × 71.8 cm)
Framed: 28 15/16 × 28 15/16 × 1 1/2 in.
Framed: 28 15/16 × 28 15/16 × 1 1/2 in.
ClassificationsPhotograph
Credit LineCrystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2015.24.2
Accession number
2015.24.2
On View
Not on viewLabel TextA touchstone of shared American experience, the kitchen table stands in for moments of everyday life, serving as a scene for meals, family gatherings, and celebrations, as well as for quiet reflection. Carrie Mae Weems pictures the kitchen table as a stage for the performance of womanhood in these photographs. Using herself as the subject, the artist traces an unfolding story of domestic life: love, loss, family responsibility, and feminine strength emerge as overarching themes.
Casting herself as the Everywoman at the center of this narrative, Weems seeks to connect her experience as a modern black woman in America with the viewer. Though African Americans typically serve as her primary subjects, in displaying everyday scenes at a family table, Weems wants these figures “to stand for the human multitudes.” To the artist, photography becomes a medium for identifying common experience across color boundaries.
Bruce Davidson
