What can I say about the exhibit? Honestly it was the most impressionable and personal work I have seen so far in this class. It doesn't seem like Ms. Weems does anything particularly innovative with her photography, she hasn't invented any new technique for capturing the still image with a camera, but it appears this is not her intent. She is a poet. Her photographs combined with the captions paint vivid pictures and tell the story of an American history not usually covered in textbooks. She is not afraid to use gender and racial stereotypes to capture the attention of her audience and she continues to dig deeper with each photograph in each series leaving the viewer with a better understanding and perhaps a better perspective. The photos are merely a tool to get her audience to stop, look, read and learn.
The "Kitchen Table Series" was the first work I encountered upon entering the exhibit. With these photographs she challenges the conventional role of a woman in society by presenting a character who questions her predetermined life. She references several stereotypes concerning women and concerning African-American men. The next series I came across was the longest, "From Here I Saw What Happened and I Cried." Weems documents the African experience in America beginning with an African woman in tribal garb followed by nude photographs of slaves. Every caption relays common perceptions and misconceptions associated with African Americans. My favorite photo from the series was of the Soldiers. I thought of the African American Soldiers who fought for their country and suffered segregation and inequality until the 1970's (although the Army was supposedly integrated in 1949) but continued to serve with honor. There are still Black WWI and WWII veterans receiving posthumous medals for valor that were initially denied on account of their race. In "May Days Long Gone", I loved Weems' celebration of Manet and her idea of changing art history. The Louisiana project consisted of five photographs of Weems in front of different scenes generally associated with the South and with New Orleans. I have visited the City twice and really felt like I was transported back to a place behind the façade of jazz and the eternal party. A desolate area somewhat poverty stricken with remnants of the "old south" around every corner.
The trip to the Guggenheim was more focused and it seems the main exhibits change frequently where at Met the bulk of the exhibits haven't changed in years. It was interesting to see how the curators, museum staff were able to arrange the works in the space and to think of how often they have to do this. I'm glad we went and like the article, perhaps Weems should have been given the main exhibit. I suppose Italian futurism is very relevant to the era of fascism in Italy, but this is after all America.