1953
April 20, Carrie Mae Weems is born in Portland, Oregon
- She is the second child born to Carrie Polk and Myrlie Weems.
1965
Becomes interested in the arts
- Meets Tom Vinters and lifelong friend, Catherine Jelski.
- Begins participating in street theatre and dance.
1968
Assassination of Martin Luther King
1969
December 11, 1969, gives birth to only child
- Gives birth to only child and names her Faith C. Weems
1970
Moves to San Francisco
- Invited to join Anna Halprin’s San Francisco Dancer’s Workshop.
1971
Packs a cardboard suitcase and moves to New York
- Moves to New York with baby in tow, seeks but does not find work, returns to
San Francisco.
1972
Meets Raymond Marshall
- Introduced to Marxism as a social philosophy, joins Marxist organization, and
works as organizer for the next 8-10 years.
1973
First Camera
- Receives first camera as a birthday gift, immediately begins taking
pictures.
1974
Education
- Studies photography and design at San Francisco City College, 1974-1976.
1975
Travels
- Travels to Europe and East Berlin for the first time.
1976
Meets Dawoud Bey
1978
Lives bi-coastally
- Lives bi-coastally between New York and San Francisco 1978-1981. Works as a
Kelly Girl to maintain the lifestyle to which she has now grown
accustomed.
Returns to New York
- Meets the men associated with The Black Photographers Annual, becomes
assistant to Anthony Barboza.
1980
Exhibit
- Researches and organizes exhibition on women in photography
1981
Education
- Receives BFA from the California Institute of the Arts.
- Ulysses Jenkins persuades her to consider graduate school, enrolls
at University of California, San Diego.
Exhibits
- Multi-Cultural Focus, Barnsdall Art Gallery, Los Angeles.
- Women in Photography, Cityscape Photo Gallery, Pasadena, CA.
1982
- Engages in serious studies, begins research on black artists, travels and meets them and
records the conservations. Meets PH Polk who sells her two photographs for $25.
First Video
- Makes first major video work, on black photographers, highlighting
Roy DeCarava.
1984
Exhibit
- Family Pictures and Stories, Multi-Cultural Gallery,
San Diego.
Education
- Receives MFA from the University of California, San Diego.
- Enrolled in the graduate program in folklore, University of California, Berkeley,
1984-1987.
1986
Meets Jeff Hoone
- In a darkroom at Visual Studies Workshop, she meets Jeff Hoone. She sees the future and
knows that they will be married. He sees nothing.
Exhibits
- People Close Up, Fisher Gallery, University of Southern California,
Los Angeles.
- Social Concerns, Maryland Institute of Art, Baltimore.
- Past, Present, Future, The New Museum, New York.
Residency
- Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, NY.
1987
Exhibit
- Visible Differences, Centro Cultural de la
Raza, San Diego.
1988
Residency
- Light Work, Syracuse, NY.
Exhibit
- The Other, The Houston Center for Photography, Houston.
1989
Exhibit
- A Century of Protest, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.
Residency
- Philip Morris residency at Kunstlerhaus Bethanien.
1989-1990
1990
Joins PPOW Gallery in New York City.
Exhibits
- Black Women Photographers, Ten-8, London, England.
- Who Counts?, Randolph Street Gallery, Chicago.
- Biological Factors, Nexus Gallery, Atlanta.
- Trouble in Paradise, MIT List Visual Arts Center, Boston.
"Thoughts on Marriage"
1991
Uses Polaroid Studio
- Given permission to use the 20 x 24 Polaroid Studio in New York.
Exhibits
- Whitney Biennial, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
- Of Light and Language, Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Pittsburgh.
- Pleasures and Terrors of Domestic Comfort, curated by Peter Galassi,
MOMA, New York. Traveling exhibition.
- Calling Out My Name, CEPA Gallery, Buffalo, NY; traveled to
P·P·O·W, New York.
1991-1992
1992
Television
- Behind the Scenes, television program for PBS in association
with Learning Designs, New York, NY.
Exhibits
- Disclosing the Myth of Family, curated by Barbara Berber, The School of the
Art Institute of Chicago.
- Schwarze Kunst: Konzepte zur Politik und Identitat, curated by Frank Wagner,
Neue Gesellschaft fur bildende Kunst, Berlin, Germany.
- Dirt and Domesticity: Constructions of the Feminine, Whitney Museum of
American Art at Equitable Center, New York.
- Art, Politics and Community, curated by Don Desmett, William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut; traveled to Tyler School of Art, Temple University.
Meets Terry Adkins
1992-1994
Exhibits
- Mis/Taken Identities, curated by Abigail Solomon–Godeau and Constance
Lewallen, University Art Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara; traveled to Museum
Folkwang, Essen, Germany; Forum Stadtpark, Graz, Austria; Neues Museum Weserburg Bremen im
Forum Langenstraße, Germany; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark; Western
Gallery, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA.
- Photography: Expanding the Collection, Whitney Museum of American Art,
New York.
1993
Moves to Paris, 1993-94.
- Receives first major commission, from Weston Naef and the Getty Museum.
Publication
- Carrie Mae Weems
- Published by the National Museum of Women in the Arts
Exhibits
- Sea Islands, The Fabric Workshop, Philadelphia.
- Carrie Mae Weems traveling exhibition, curated by Andrea Kirsh
and Susan Fisher Sterling, The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington D.C.
- And 22 Million Very Tired and Very Angry People, Walter/McBean Gallery,
San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco.
- Enlightenment, Revolution, A Gallery Project, Ferndale, MI.
1993-1994
Exhibits
- Fictions of the Self: The Portrait in Contemporary Photography,
Weatherspoon Art Gallery, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, and Herter Art Gallery,
University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
- The Theater of Refusal: Black Art and the Mainstream Criticism, curated
by Charles Gaines, Fine Arts Gallery, University of California, Irvine; traveled to University
of California, Davis; University of California, Riverside.
1994
Publication
- Carrie Mae Weems
- Published by The Fabric Workshop, Philadelphia, PA. Introduction by Mary Jane Jacob.
Exhibits
- Women’s Representation of Women, curated by Dana Friis-Hansen and
Yuko Hayashi, Sapporo American Center Gallery, Sapporo, Japan. Traveled to Aka Renga
Cultural Center, Fukuoka City, Japan; Kyoto International Community House, Kyoto,
Japan; Aichi Prefectural Arts Center, Nagoya, Japan; Osaka Prefectural Contemporary
Arts Center, Japan; Spiral Arts Center, Tokyo, Japan.
1994-1995
Moves back to New York
Exhibits
- Imagining Families: Images and Voices, curated by Deborah Willis,
The Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
- Black Male, Representations of Masculinity in Contemporary American Art,
curated by Thelma Golden, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, and The Armand
Hammer Museum of Art, Santa Monica, CA.
1995
Marries
- Elopes to Tijuana, Mexico, and marries Jeff Hoone.
Exhibits
- Carrie Mae Weems Reacts to Hidden Witness, J. Paul Getty Museum of
Art, Malibu, CA. First artist to be commissioned by the Getty.
- Projects 52, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY. First significant
solo show at the Museum of Modern Art.
- StoryLand: Narrative Vision and Social Space, Walter Phillips
Gallery, The Banff Center for the Arts, Banff, Canada.
1995-96
1996
Moves to Syracuse, New York
Exhibits
- Embedded Metaphor, curated by Nina Felshin. Traveling exhibit.
Inside the Visible, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA;
The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C., international traveling
exhibition. Gender - Beyond Memory, curated by Michiko Kasahara, Tokyo
Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo, Japan.
Makes "Framed by Modernism" for R. Colescott
1997
Exhibits
- 2nd Johannesburg Biennale, Africus Institute for Contemporary
Art, Johannesburg, South Africa
1998
Publications
Carrie Mae Weems: Recent Work, 1992-1998
- Essays by Thomas Piche, Jr., and Thelma Golden, published by George Braziller.
Begins printing on cloth.
Exhibits
- Bearing Witness: Contemporary Works by African-American Artists,
traveling exhibition. Taboo: Repression and Revolt in Modern Art,
Galerie St. Etienne, New York, NY. Tell Me a Story: Narration in Contemporary
Painting and Photography, Centre National d’Art Contemporain de Grenoble,
Grenoble, France.
1998-99
Exhibits
- Recent Work: Carrie Mae Weems 1992-98, Everson Art Museum, Syracuse, NY.
- Who, What, When, Where, Whitney Museum of American Art at Phillip Morris,
New York, NY.
- Ritual & Revolution, DAK’ART 98: Biennale of Contemporary Art,
Galerie Nationale d’Art, Dakar, Senegal.
1999
Publications
Art in America cover story
Exhibits
- It’s Only Rock and Roll, traveling exhibition.
Claustrophobia:
Disturbing the Domestic in Contemporary Art, traveling exhibition.
Histories (Re)membered, The Bronx Museum of Art, New
York, NY.
Enters dark period
2000
Exhibits
- Carrie Mae Weems: The Hampton Project, commissioned by Williams
College, 2000-2003, Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA. Traveling exhibit.
Looking Forward, Looking Back, Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery, Wesleyan
University, Middletown, CT. Material and Matter: Loans to and Selections from the
Studio Museum Collection, The Studio Museum in Harlem, NY. The View From
Here: Issues of Cultural Identity and Perspective in Contemporary Russian and American
Art, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia. Strength and Diversity: A Celebration
of African American Artists, Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Harvard University,
Cambridge, MA. Reflections in Black: A History of Black Photographers 1840 to the
Present, Smithsonian Anacostia Museum and Center for African American History and
Culture, Washington, D.C.
2001
Brother dies
2002
Video
Coming Up For Air
Exhibits
- History Now, touring exhibition beginning at the Liljevalchs
Konsthall and Riksutstallningar, Stockholm, Sweden.
- Pictures, Patents, Monkeys, and More . . . On Collecting,
traveling exhibition by Independent Curators International, Institute of Contemporary
Art, Philadelphia, PA.
Social Studies Collective formed
- Carrie, Deb Willis, Dawoud Bey, and Lonnie Graham form the Social Studies
Collective. They create Embracing Eatonville.
2003
March 2003
Father dies and she is heartbroken
Begins to make videos consistently
Exhibits
- The Louisiana Project, Newcomb Art Gallery, Tulane University,
New Orleans. Traveling exhibit. Cuba on the Verge, International Center
of Photography, New York. Crimes and Misdemeanors: Politics in U.S. Art of
the 1980s, Lois & Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art,
Cincinnati.
Opens the Record Shop
- Commissioned by David Ross and the Beacon Cultural Foundation, Beacon, NY.
2004
Selling Hopes and Dreams in a Bottle
Film Screening
- Coming Up for Air, Meaning & Landscape, MoMA Film at the
Gramercy, New York.
Exhibits
- Double Consciousness: Black Conceptual Art Since 1970, Contemporary
Arts Museum, Houston. Beyond Compare: Women Photographers on Beauty, BCE,
Toronto. Traveling exhibit.
2005
Award
- Joseph H. Hazen Rome Prize Fellowship, American Academy in Rome, 2005-2006.
Exhibits
- African American Art - Photographs from the Collection, Saint Louis Art
Museum, Saint Louis, MO. Figuratively Speaking, Miami Art Museum, Miami, FL.
The Whole World is Rotten, first exhibit with Jack Shainman Gallery,
New York. Common Ground: Discovering Community in 150 Years of Art, Corcoran
Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
2005-2006
Touring Europe
Video
Italian Dreams
2006
Exhibits
- Out of Time: A Contemporary View, Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Black Alphabet: Contexts of Contemporary African-American Art, Zacheta
National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland.
Teaching
- Visiting Professor at Syracuse University.
2007
New Home
- Moves to new home with Jeff. Home now in one location.
Awards
- Anonymous Was a Woman Foundation, New York
- Skowhegan Medal for Photography, Skowhegan School of Painting &
Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME.
- Honorary Ph.D., Colgate University, Hamilton, NY.
Exhibits
- Hidden in Plain Sight, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Embracing Eatonville, University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor.
2008
Joins Jack Shainman Gallery
Video
Constructing History
2009
Publications
- Carrie Mae Weems: Constructing History
- Essays by Laurie Ann Farrell, Stephanie Hughley, Paula Wallace, Carrie Mae Weems,
Deborah Willis. Published by Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA.
-
Bomb Magazine Interview: Carrie Mae Weems by Dawoud Bey
- Bomb 108/Summer 2009
Faith Turns 40
Television
- Art21, television program for PBS, New York, NY.
Video
Afro Chic
Geri Allen
Coco the horse, named after Carrie
Exhibits
- The 21st Century, The Feminine Century, and the Century of Diversity and Hope, 2009 International Incheon
Women Artists’ Biennial, Incheon, South Korea. Colour Chart: Reinventing Color, 1950 to Today, Tate Liverpool,
UK. Afro Modern: Journeys through the Black Atlantic, Tate Liverpool, UK. From Then to Now:
Masterworks of Contemporary African American Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, Ohio.
- Jay Scheib: Bellona, Destroyer of Cities, with video and photography by Carrie, is performed at The Kitchen.
- Attends reception with First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House, and State Department dinner
with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Exhibits
-
Carrie Mae Weems: Estudios Sociales, Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo,
Seville, Spain.
Pictures by Women: A History of Modern Photography, Museum of Modern
Art, New York.
Slow Fade to Black, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.
The Record: Contemporary Art and Vinyl, Nasher Museum,
Durham, North Carolina.
Myth, Manners and Memory: Photographers of the American South, De La Waar Pavillion, East Sussex, UK.
Off the Wall: Part 1 — Thirty Performative Actions, Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, Ohio.
Publications
- Carrie Mae Weems: Social Studies
- Essays by Elvira Dyangani Ose, Annie E. Coombes, and Greg Tate. Published by
Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo, Seville, Spain.
2011
- Carrie and the Social Studies 101 collective begin anti-violence
public art project,
Operation: Activate.
Exhibits
- The Deconstructive Impulse: Women Artists Reconfigure the Signs of
Power, 1973-1991, Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchse College, Purchase, New York.
Posing Beauty: African American Images From the 1890s to the Present,
Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey.
Stargazers: Elizabeth Catlett in Conversation with 21 Contemporary Artists,
Bronx Museum of Art, Bronx, New York.
30 Americans, North Carolina Museum of Art, Durham, North Carolina.
Unsettled: Photography and Politics in Contemporary Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Featured
- Carrie's work greets visitors to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations (USUN) in New York City.
- Interviewed by Dream Hampton for Jay Z's Life and Times website.
- The Kitchen Table Series featured on WBEZ Chicago.
- Featured on Duke University's Left of Black show.
- One of five contemporary artists examined in Huffington Post's "Women's Art of Renewal"
Publication
- Carrie Mae Weems: Three Decades of Photography and Video,
edited by Kathryn E. Delmez, with essays by Kathryn E. Delmez,
Henry Louis Gates Jr., Franklin Sirmans, Robert Storr, and
Deborah Willis, published by Yale University Press.
2012
Exhibits
- Carrie Mae Weems: Three Decades of Photography and Video opens at the
Frist Center for the Visual Arts.
- This Will Have Been: Art, Love & Politics in the 1980s,
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota. La Triennale: Intense Proximity,
Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France. Havana Biennial, Havana, Cuba.
Featured
- Carrie's work is featured in
the New York Times and the
Huffington Post.
- Carrie and Social Studies 101 launch The Institute for Sound +
Style, a program for high school students.
- Celebrate Brooklyn featured multimedia collaboration between Carrie
and pianist Geri Allen.
- Gives Gund Lecture at Brown University.
- Video installation of The Maddening Crowd, at the
McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas
