This exhibit of Carrie Mae Weems fascinated me to no end, her photographs make a person see something as simple as a blurred picture of a woman in a whole new view, especially with her descriptions of them. There were two in particular that caught my eye.
One of them titled "Roaming Broad and Expansive Sky", which I literally stood there staring at it for about a good fifteen minutes. I got this overwhelming sensation of how our existence is rather insignificant in comparison to what's really out there. I found it absolutely enrapturing. Practically sent chills down my spine. I felt like I was the one standing on the shore, staring off into the never ending distance. I could not get enough of this. Even as I write this, I can't stop staring and contemplating about the world. I adore the achromatic color scheme, it adds a nice effect to the picture, and gives off a bit of an ominous sensation to it. I believe this one is my favorite of all the images I've seen in the exhibit.
The second one titled "Boneyard" was another that gave off an odd feeling. The reason why this caught my attention was, not only for my fascination in morbidity, but because where my family comes from in Colombia, we believe in some of what is said in the description. One for example, is the death by voodooism, if someone is killed by such, then they are to be buried to a cross in one hand, and lightly pour holy water on to them so that their spirit can peacefully pass on, and whoever got them killed will be punished by having a loved one taken away from them.
In the exhibit, there were two pictures that I've seen that had involved stereotypes. Perhaps there were more but I didn't get a chance to see them One of them being a black woman with a chicken drumstick and the caption said "Black Woman with Chicken". It is well known that one of the many stereotypes for the black community is that they love to eat chicken. Carrie uses that to her advantage to bring the stereotype to life, however in the picture the woman is unsatisfied, kind of giving off a bit of an attitude to this.
The second image is a black man holding a large watermelon and a notable stereotyped hairstyle for black men. The picture is titled "Black Man holding Watermelon". Just like the woman, the black man here is giving a look of unsatisfactory.
Photography is an easier yet slightly more challenging medium in comparison to paintings, drawings etc. The reason why I say easier is because it doesn't require as much talent as painting and drawing needs. (Not that I'm saying photography is for the untalented but I feel like it doesn't have as much effort as a painting/drawing does since the camera is really what does all the work, not the person behind it.) Now the reason why it is challenging is because it does need as much focus and perfectionism as a drawing. A photographer needs to get something at a perfect angle, the right camera focus, at the right time otherwise it'll just seem like any other photo and not have as much meaning as it was meant to have.
Many of Carrie Mae Weems' most famous work is her appropriation of historical photos, such as this one on the left captioned "And their daughter". I'm not exactly sure what that means. But she takes old photos, mostly from the era of slaves and has them reddened with a caption over. Some others I've noticed in the Guggenheim have some edits on certain pictures. One of them had a white man with something edited on his face. (I can't remember what it was.)
My experience at the Guggenheim was definitely an unforgettable one but in my honest opinion, the Met was better, only because I felt that there was a lot more space to venture out and different forms of art to check out. I kind of felt as if the Guggenheim was more limited than the Met. The Guggenheim had way more photographic art while the Met had more sculptures, drawings and paintings which are more of my taste.
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