“You know, we have to make art work for us within the context of our own individual belief systems. I've often thought about this. How do you do this with photography? How do you describe complex experiences in a photograph? What are the sights of it? What should it have to look like? What does it have to challenge? To whom is it challenging? You know, who's it for? All
those kinds of questions are constantly shifting for me. The moment' that
I think when I have it locked down, it is the moment in which it flips; you
can't talk about the pros without talking about the cons. You can't talk
about the "positives" without talking about the "negatives." And you
can't talk about the truths without talking about the untruths.”- Carrie Mae Weems
To me, this above quote from Mae Weems seems to discuss that any art we make will always be tied into our individual perceptions. How this interacts with photography is interesting, due to the fact that photography is capturing a moment in time, which can make one question how this can be tied to the photographer's perceptions. However, the very act of taking your photo, and the reasoning and positioning of the photo affect the outcome of the picture, and can really only have come out the way it did because of the photographer's choosing.
“The assumption that our ability as artists is restricted to our only
being able to deal meaningfully with the question of race and rage
overdetermines critical perception.”- Carrie Mae Weems
The above quote means, to me, that an artist should not allow meaning to dictate what kind of art they make, nor when and where. An artist Must focus on creating and having an outlet for their creativity and voice.
“In most every black person's life today, home is where you find it, just where you find it. To me this suggests open possibility that home can be for me Portland, Oregon, to the same extent that it can
be New York or Ghana or Maui or Senegal. It doesn't matter” -Carrie Mae Weems
Marrie Mae Weems seems to answer questions with a strong consideration of her past, and the events that led to her upbringing. There is a certain openness to her dialogue that fits well with her more introspective elements of her work and discussion.
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