Carrie Mae Weems: A Great Turn in the Possible

By Carrie Mae Weems, Iris Dressler, Elvira Dyangani Ose, LaCharles Ward, Fred Moten and Raul Munoz

The most comprehensive survey of Weems’ genre-defying oeuvre yet published.

One of the most influential American artists working today, Carrie Mae Weems has investigated narratives around family, race, gender, sexism, class and the consequences of power for more than 40 years. Her complex oeuvre―always ahead of its time, and profoundly formative for younger generations of artists―has employed photography (for which she is best known), fabric, text, audio, digital images, installation and video. 

This volume, spanning four decades of work, is the most thorough survey yet published. It includes Weems’ earliest series, such as Family Pictures and Stories, for which she photographed her relatives and close friends; the legendary Kitchen Table Series, in which she posed in a domestic setting; and other critically acclaimed works and series such as Ain’t Jokin’, Colored People, From Here I Saw What Happened and I Cried, Not Manet’s Type, The Jefferson Suite, Monuments, Roaming, Museums, Constructing History (A Class Ponders the Future), Slow Fade to Black and the Obama Project, among many others. Contextualizing these pieces are essays by LaCharles Ward and Fred Moten and a chronology by Raul Muñoz. The book also includes a visual essay by Weems that presents a personal selection of her own works from the artist's perspective.

Published by DAP and Fundacion MAPFRE, 2022
Hardcover with 281 pages
Dimensions: 12 x 10 inches