her "first show in new york in years"*

http://www.jackshainman.com/

*from the E-mail she sent out with this announcement. Given that she's one of only two black women photographers that the art world acknowledges in any way, that's pretty depressing.

from Laylah:

Carrie Mae Weems, A Survey

PICK

Jack Shainman Gallery
Chelsea

513 West 20th Street, 212-645-1701
February 7 - March 8, 2008
Opening: Thursday, February 7, 6 - 8PM

http://www.artcal.net/event/view/1/6380

Jack Shainman Gallery is pleased to present Carrie Mae Weems, A Survey, the artist's inaugural exhibition at the gallery and her first exhibition in New York in several years.

Although she has exhibited her work extensively throughout the United States and abroad over the past twenty-five years this exhibition marks Weems' highly anticipated return to the New York gallery scene. A Survey brings together work from the beginning of her career through her most recent projects produced in Rome, where she was a fellow at the American Academy in 2005/2006, as well as other series from Europe and Louisiana. This exhibition celebrates the breadth of Weems' career and highlights her overall trajectory toward enfranchisement and empowerment through photography. What becomes noticeable is Weems' penchant for storytelling. Her work is organized into cohesive bodies which function like chapters in a perpetually unfolding narrative. It begins autobiographically with her earliest series of family portraits, evolves into a more general exploration of African American cultural identity rooted in American Icons, exploration of color, slavery, Africa, and the appropriation of historical ethnographical images, before morphing and expanding into a mediation on Western history, art history, architecture and its implications for power structures.

Weems' use of props as installation elements further accentuates her interest in stories, folklore and drama. An installation becomes like a stage set and her practice like that of a director. Some examples of Weems' video work, where she fully exploits this role, will also be on view.

Considered one of the most influential contemporary American artists, Carrie Mae Weems has investigated yearning, loss, cultural identity, and the visual consequences of power throughout her renowned career. Determined as ever to enter the picture-both literally and metaphorically-she has sustained an on-going dialogue within contemporary discourse.