| For more information about this article or gallery, please call the gallery phone number listed in the last line of the article, "For more info..." |
May Issue 2005
Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem, NC, Features Works by Carrie Mae Weems and Exhibit of Photography
The Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem, NC, is presenting two ne w exhibitions, including: Carrie Mae Weems: The Louisiana Project, on view in the Center's Main Gallery through June 23, 2005, and Create and Be Recognized: Photography on the Edge, on view in the Center's Potter Gallery through July 3, 2005.
Carrie Mae Weems has an indisputable talent for taking history and making it current. Her projects, ranging from The Jefferson Suites to The Hampton Project to From Here I Saw What Happened and I Cried, all lay bare truths and circumstance that have resounding implications in our world of displaced identities and moral turpitude. The Louisiana Project is no exception. This multi-media installation to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase is an eloquent representation of how class and race, entrenched politics and self-interest, and poverty and wealth have stained generations of practices and perceptions in and of the South.
The Louisiana Project is an installation incorporating still photography, narrative, and video projection as part of an examination of the complex history of New Orleans and the "commingling culture" that has resulted. Through the photographs, Weems builds a contextual narrative by starting with portraits of Liberty (a costumed actor dressed as an ass) and Justice (a costumed actor dressed as an elephant). Weems, in another set of images, then places herself in a variety of locations -- plantations, railroad tracks, chemical plants, etc. - as a witness to the experience of African Americans in Louisiana. In several others, the subject gazes into a mirror, perhaps symbolizing a reflection upon the region's history as it pertains to roles and sexual identity. All of the work is staged, giving Weems an author's prerogative to interpret and propose the events and circumstances that shaped attitudes about blackness, in particular, black women. The video in turn considers a triad of relationships between white men, white women, and women of color played out as a sort of shadow dance. It is not always clear who wields the power as the role of central character shifts from one individual (and gender) to another.
Finally, 14 canvases capture frozen moments from the video. These shadow figures present enough ambiguity that the implications are variable, often calling upon personal references for context. Weems, however, does not leave it entirely up to the viewer's imagination as the subjects that informed The Louisiana Project reside firmly in the concrete.
While the focus of this work is directed toward the particular situation of Louisiana, the implications extend far beyond one state or one region. Issues of race, identity, gender, role playing, and role models have infiltrated every layer of society, culture, and politics. Weems slowly turns the pages as she tells the told and untold stories that, whether focusing on personal or cultural history, trace and encircle African-American culture and heritage, the broadening Diaspora of our multi-racial and multi-cultural world.
According to Weems, "Even as a young artist, I longed to work in Louisiana, to experience its complicated social history, to engage its fascinating dark cultural side, and make it the center of an artwork. Over the years, I made casual visits; always alone, wandering here and there, dropping in at archives, libraries, and bookshops, slowly gathering materials, documents, objects, taking notes, photographing, dreaming, and biding my time; awaiting the opportunity to work in New Orleans, Queen of the South."
The exhibition was organized by the Newcomb Art Gallery, Tulane University, New Orleans. Toured under the auspices of Pamela Auchincloss/Arts Management, NY.
Create and be Recognized: Photography on the Edge presents the work of sixteen artists, almost all self-taught, who use photography or photographic elements in their work. While a number of these artists are well known in the field of folk and outsider art for their painting or sculpture, their contributions to photographic history have yet to be fully realized.
It is clear from the work in this exhibition that photography goes well beyond the narrow definition of pointing a camera and shooting a picture. Artists such as August Walla, Eugene von Bruenchenhein, Richard Shaver and Morton Bartlett work directly with the camera to capture their environments, visions or fantasies. The work of Alexandre Lobanov, Lee Godie and an Anonymous artist (19th century) explore the fabrication of a new self-posed just for the camera. Robert Wilkinson, Joe "40,000" Murphy, Charles August Albert Dellschau, and C.T. McClusky work with personal or found photographic images, constructing new realities through collage (affixing photographs or photomechanical reproductions to a painted background) or photo-collage (primarily photographs cut and pasted together to form a new whole).
Photography is a medium ideally suited to the needs of the artists represented here. Its accessibility and mass-media reproduction offer a wide range of creative possibilities. By using photography in its broadest understanding, these artists are able to pose, paste, color, or collage their individual visions into exciting and unique works.
Artists include: Steve Ashby, Morton Bartlett, Eugene von Bruenchenhein, Henry Darger, Charles A. A. Dellschau, Howard Finster, Lee Godie, William L. Hawkins, Alexandre Lobanov, C.T. McClusky, Joe "40.000" Murphy, Rudy Rotter, Richard Shaver, Robert R. Wilkinson, and two anonymous artists.
Create and Be Recognized: Photography on the Edge has been organized by Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, and guest curated by Deborah Klochko and John Turner.
For further information check our NC Institutional Gallery listings, call the Center at 336/725-1904, e-mail at (admin@secca.org) or at (www.secca.org).
Carolina Arts is published monthly by Shoestring Publishing Company, a subsidiary of PSMG, Inc. Copyright© 2004 by PSMG, Inc., which published Charleston Arts from July 1987 - Dec. 1994 and South Carolina Arts from Jan. 1995 - Dec. 1996. It also publishes Carolina Arts Online, Copyright© 2004 by PSMG, Inc. All rights reserved by PSMG, Inc. or by the authors of articles. Reproduction or use without written permission is strictly prohibited. Carolina Arts is available throughout North & South Carolina.