Museum Review

The title of this collection of chromogenic prints called "From Here I Saw What Happened And I Cried", 1995-96. Carrie Mae Weems gives attention to the history of African Americans. Each of he four red and black pictures I choose had one African American and a writing etched to the glass. Only when I focused my attention is when I understood the labeling in the individuals. They suddenly became an object not a person. The artist named them according to their occupation. The titles where "House", "Yard", "Field" and "Kitchen". Through her art, Carrie Mae Weems shows us the powerful meaning of racism towards the way African Americans were being treated.Of the four pictures, none of the individuals looks happy. It feels that they have been branded with different assignments that define who they are. I cant imagine being marked my whole life and not being able to speak out. Carrie Mae Weems is the mediator of those people that never had a chance for their voice to be heard, It is up to this day that we can see the truth through Weem's art. The suffering and challenges that African Americans had are being displayed in her photography, this way it gives a very strong impact to the viewer.

Photography in this situation gives meaning to the truth and cry of people that were never heard. This photograph is part of the collection. It is very easy to understand what is happening here, the scars in the African Americans back displays hatred. We can see the face of truly awful violence and malice. Truly, you can understand what they felt, a picture always tells a story. My impression of this exhibition was the way the title grabbed me and then my feelings about her work continued from that point. “From Here I saw what Happened and I Cried”, this title touched my heart that I felt deep compassion of the human beings that were in those pictures. The pain that followed was unplanned, I realized that these individuals did suffer back then and it wouldn't matter to anyone, until now. The experience I obtained by coming to the Guggenheim Museum was completely different from the Metropolitan. I achieved my goal on looking at idealized works of art and perfect sculptures in the Metropolitan. However in the Guggenheim I enjoyed looking at all the interesting photographs, abstract art and sculptures. It really is like walking into different worlds.