carrie mae weems

b. 1953

Portland, Oregon

Photographer

Famed for her Kitchen Table Series in the ‘90s, Weems’ bred and butter is putting a lens on culture, class, relationships, and identity.

Before honing in on photography, Weems was a dancer and studied at Anna Halprin’s workshop in San Francisco during the ‘70s. She received her first camera in her 20s, and published her first collection in 1983, Family Pictures & Stories. From there Weems produced other collections of photography and text like Ain’t Jokin’ (1988) and Colored People (1990).

Since then, Weems has been in several solo and group exhibitions, at museums like The Guggenheim and Metropolitan Museum of Art, and has reached international acclaim.