“Let me say that my primary concern in art, as in politics, is with the status and place of Afro-Americans in our country.” - Carrie Mae Weems “Let me say that my primary concern in art, as in politics, is with the status and place of Afro-Americans in our country.” More recently however, she expressed that “Black experience is not really the main point; rather, complex, dimensional, human experience and social inclusion ... is the real point.” - Carrie Mae Weems Carrie Mae Weems was born April 20, 1953. She is an American artist who works with text, fabric, audio, digital images, installation, and video but is best known for her work in the field of photography. Her award-winning photographs, films, and videos have been displayed in over 50 exhibitions in the United States and abroad and focus on serious issues that face African Americans today, such as racism, gender relations, politics, and personal identity. Early life and education Weems was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1953, the second of seven children. At the age of 16 she gave birth to her first and only child, a daughter named Faith C. Weems. Later that year she moved out of her parent’s home and relocated to San Francisco to study modern dance with Anna Halprin at a workshop . She decided to continue her arts schooling and attended the California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, graduating at the age of 28 with her B.A. She received her MFA from the University of California, San Diego. Weems also participated in the folklore graduate program at the University of California, Berkeley. While in her early twenties, Carrie Mae Weems was politically active in the labor movement as a union organizer. She was inspired to pursue photography only after she came across The 7
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