Romare Bearden
James Bettison
John Biggers
Beverly Buchanan
Willie Cole
Sam Gilliam
Loïs Mailou Jones
Jacob Armstead Lawrence
Carroll Sockwell
Carrie Mae Weems
Jack Whitten
William T. Williams

Born in 1953 in Portland, Oregon, Carrie Mae Weems received her undergraduate arts degree from the California Institute of Arts in Valencia and her MFA from the University of California at San Diego. In San Diego, Weems was part of a group of political artists who sought to shape the context for their photographic art by pairing them with texts. During her studies, Weems also developed a strong interest in folklore, and studied the subject from 1984-87 at the University of California, Berkeley. Her interest in folklore is directly related to her interest in storytelling. She has drawn inspiration from her father’s prowess as a storyteller, from several other storytellers within her extended family, and from the great indigenous storytelling traditions around the world. She has expressed her intention to "describe simply and directly those aspects of American culture in need of deeper illumination."

From her early photographic series, Family Pictures and Stories (1978-1984), through such works as Ain't Jokin' (1987-1988), Colored People (1989-1990), and Kitchen Table (1990), Weems combines racial, sexual, cultural, and historical themes with the more personal and collective strains of humor and sadness, loss and redemption. In the 1990s, she broadened both her geographical reach and the forms of her art. She explored the African diaspora with her Sea Islands series (1991-1992); she visited Africa, and out of this visit came the series Africa, Slave Coast, and Landed in Africa.

With the installation Ritual & Revolution, digital technology enabled Carrie Mae Weems to enlarge her photographs to a scale that allows her audience to enter physically into her artistic experience. In a dramatic departure from written texts, she also incorporates the human voice – her voice – as a powerful element in the piece, drawing again on her deep affinity for the writings of Zora Neale Hurston: "…And while searching around for the sound of me...I tripped over Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston…I went to her watering-hole and drank long and deep and there discovered my courage."

Sea Island Series {Bonne Plantation} (1992)
Silver print with text panel

Critical Essay by Erica Mata
Judson High School