It's 2014 and the Guggenheim is finally honoring an African American female artist with a retrospective.
Photographer Carrie Mae Weems' three decades worth of emotional and provocative work will be on display at the museum from now until May 14. Having been born in the early '50s, come of age during the civil rights movement and (of course) lived her life as a Black woman in America, Weems has been creating art that sheds light on issues of gender, class and race with beautiful and tender styling for more than half her life. Given her first camera in 1974, Weems has been capturing quiet domestic moments from within her own family, all while traveling far and wide to collect and document the lives and experiences of subjugated classes, ever since.
For her work, Weems has earned a MacArthur "genius" grant and a Medal of Arts from the U.S. State Department. She is the natural choice for a Guggenheim retrospective, and yet even that is coming with an embarrassing (embarrassing for the Guggenheim, not Weems) catch. Only half of the collection (which is currently a traveling show) will appear at the museum and it will be given limited space.
