Carrie Mae Weems, the political and poetic photographer

Carrie Mae Weems. A great turn of the possible It's a strong bet. It is an extensive exhibition that is presented, or rather, extends simultaneously in three accredited spaces in Barcelona: the KBr photography center, from the Mapfre Foundation, and the Foto Colectania Foundation, both specialized in photography, and the MACBA, which shows a video installation by the artist (Lincoln, Lonnie and Me). The unique project – collaboration between institutions of such magnitude is unusual – was curated by Elvira Dyangani Ose, herself director of the Museu d'Art Contemporani in Barcelona.

The room sheet describes Carrie Mae Weems (Portland, Oregon, 1953) as a versatile creator whose work moves between installation, photography and digital image. It is also said that she “dedicated her work to reframing the identity of the African-American community and women, as well as exploring the mechanisms behind power, who wields it, and over whom it is wielded.”

“Deconstruction” of dominant discourses of power and ethnocentric white culture, “awareness” or “sensitization” of the “other”, denunciation of the invisibility of minorities, reflection on stereotypes and social prejudices are other concepts associated with Weems’ work.

[Elvira Dyangani Ose: “Let's fly, but I need you to stop working”]

The truth is that in the imagery that has come to us from the United States, especially from Hollywood cinema, people of color are practically absent or, if they appear, they do so in secondary, parodic roles or under certain clichés. That is, simply, it was silenced. Carrie Mae Weems, by photographing and giving an image to black people, transforms what was hidden and highlights it, draws attention and ultimately values it.

With this observation I am not particularly original. It is Walter Benjamin who explains that photographing the world is transforming it, that what seemed banal, when photographed – to understand us – becomes something aesthetic. Furthermore, Carrie Mae Weems not only records what has been silenced and hidden, but introduces this image into a particular context and circuit of dignity and prestige: high culture.

The artist, by photographing and giving an image to black, transforms what was hidden and makes it singular

The exhibition (or exhibitions) brings together very diverse works and expressive strategies. But, perhaps, the Carrie Mae Weems that interested me most is not the most obviously political or aggressive (that aggressiveness of someone, humiliated, looking down, as in the series It's no joke), but one that has, so to speak, a poetic breath.

Although we are in the context of a committed art, images are presented, as if suspended, that escape definition and defined phrases, tremendously ambiguous and open, susceptible to multiple interpretations. For example, the series listening devicesphone photographs as still lifes, or slow fade to blackwhich includes images of singers and dancers who were very popular at the time and which the passage of time has blurred.

In the same sense, the stories in which text and photography intersect are very intense, as is the case of Kitchen tablein which Weems narrates a story with autobiographical elements... Anyway, it is not a pamphlet and this works in Weems' favor and gives him, perhaps, a greater capacity for political persuasion.

There is an anecdote I want to tell: when Elvira Dyangani Ose, the curator, was graduating and going to the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, ​​​​​​the city where she lived, a child bit her in the street. Asked about explanations for such behavior, the brat replied that he thought it was made of chocolate, because Dyangani is really colorful. It seems that, logically, upset and indignant, upon arriving at university, she wrote a reflection on this experience. It is no surprise that she curated this exhibition with the desire for a “turnaround to be possible”, however small it may be.

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