Viewing Carrie Mae Weems: Reflections for Now

Head east to the Barbican Art Gallery to see the first major solo exhibition of Carrie Mae Weems in a UK institution. Widely considered one of the greatest contemporary American artists, with activism at the heart of her practice, Weems explores cultural identity, power structures, desire, and social justice. Creating powerful and provocative works that weave new narratives around race, gender, history, class and their systems of representation, Weems challenges the ideologies and historical records.

Explore the wide variety of radical works created by Weems, starting with her rise to prominence in the 1980s, exploring the Black subject and ending with some of Weems’s most recent works, such as the seven-chapter panoramic film, The Shape of Things (2021). Journey through time and find on display photographic series, films, and installations spanning over three decades, from her early iconic Kitchen Table Series (1990), as well as her acclaimed series Roaming (2006) and Museums (2016), where Weems’s muse confronts architecture as the materialisation of political and cultural power. With many works on display never before seen in the UK, this is your chance to see a new side of Carrie Mae Weems.

Whilst you are there, why not pick up Carrie Mae Weems: Reflections for Now? The first publication devoted to the artist’s writings, highlighting Weems’s influence as an intellectual and reflecting the dual nature of her career as an artist and activist.