Carrie Mae Weems

"The status and place of African Americans in the United States is the primary concern of photographer Carrie Mae Weems. Working in series, she creates art that deals with the issues encircling African American culture and cuts through the veneer of accepted social truths to reveal their deep cultural foundations of prejudice and oppression. In her series Family Pictures and Stories, Weems asserts the realities of African American self-respect, strength, humor, resourcefulness, and home ties while confronting the problems of male aggression, teenage pregnancy, joblessness, and other forms of working class oppression."