The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City will hold a special virtual Forum on Contemporary Photography, “A Tribute to Carrie Mae Weems,” on Tuesday, Feb. 2, centered on the work of internationally celebrated artist and Syracuse University artist in residence Carrie Mae Weems.
A group of distinguished speakers will speak on Weems’ presentation of “From Here I Saw What Happened and I Cried,” currently on view in MoMA’s second-floor contemporary galleries, and of the forthcoming “Carrie Mae Weems October Files” anthology, edited by Sarah Lewis, associate professor in the Department of History of Art and Architecture, Department of African and African American Studies at Harvard University, with Christine Garnier, 2020-22 Wyeth Predoctoral Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art.
A limited number of seats for this virtual webinar event have been reserved for Syracuse University. To request a seat, complete this registration form. The forum will be available for viewing by the general public on Feb. 8.
Carrie Mae Weems
The forum will open with “That’s When All Will See,” from “The Democracy! Suite by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra led by Wynton Marsalis.
The forum’s featured speakers will include Weems; Sarah Lewis; Carrie Lambert-Beatty, professor of history of art and architecture and of art, film and visual studies at Harvard University; Deborah Willis, University Professor and chair of the Department of Photography and Imaging at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University; Agnes Gund, president emerita and life trustee of MoMA and chair of PS1’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee; Thelma Golden, director and chief curator of The Studio Museum in Harlem; Robin Kelsey, dean of arts and humanities and Shirley Carter Burden Professor of Photography in the Department of History of Art and Architecture at Harvard University; Huey Copeland, BFC Presidential Associate Professor in the History of Art at the University of Pennsylvania and Andrew W. Mellon Professor at the National Gallery of Art; Thomas J. Lax, curator, Department of Media and Performance at MoMA; Jennifer Blessing, senior curator of photography at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; Kimberly Juanita Brown, associate professor of English and creative writing at Dartmouth College; and Richard J. Powell, John Spencer Bassett Distinguished Professor of Art and Art History at Duke University. The forum is co-organized by Lewis and Roxana Marcoci, senior curator at MoMA, and the Forums on Contemporary Photography are made possible through the generous support of the Joseph M. Cohen Family Collection.
“To be honored by one’s peers is the greatest honor of all,” says Weems. “I’m deeply moved and profoundly humbled by this recognition.”
Weems, who has been called one of the most influential visual artists of our time, began her three-year role as Syracuse University’s Artist in Residence on Feb. 1, 2020. A MacArthur Fellowship (a.k.a. “Genius” grant) recipient and the first African American woman to have a retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum, Weems has used multiple mediums (photography, video, digital imagery, text, fabric and more) to explore themes of cultural identity, sexism, class, political systems, family relationships and the consequences of power.
Through image and text, film, video, performance and her many lectures, presentations and culturally significant convenings with individuals across a multitude of disciplines, Weems has created a complex body of work that centers on her overarching commitment to helping us better understand our present moment by examining our collective past. Weems has sustained an ongoing dialogue within contemporary discourse for more than 35 years.
Weems has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions at major national and international museums, including MoMA, New York; The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Frist Center for Visual Art, Nashville; The Cleveland Museum of Art; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and the Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo in Seville, Spain.
She is represented in public and private collections around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; MoMA, New York; Tate Modern, London; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; National Gallery of Canada; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
In addition to the MacArthur Fellowship, Weems has received numerous other fellowships, grants and awards. In July 2020, Weems was recognized by Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh for her efforts to raise public awareness about the impact of COVID-19 on people of color, promote preventive measures and dispel falsehoods about the coronavirus through her “Resist COVID Take 6” campaign.
