Artist Carrie Mae Weems Wins National Medal of Arts

The Portland-born artist is the first Black woman visual artist to receive the honor.

WEEMS Carrie Mae Weems, Untitled (Woman with daughter), from the series Kitchen Table, 1990, gelatin silver prints, Gift of the Contemporary Art Council, © Carrie Mae Weems. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York., 94.19a-c
By Rachel Saslow

Visual artist Carrie Mae Weems, who was born and raised in Portland, received the National Medal of Arts at a White House ceremony on Monday, Oct. 21.

Weems, 71, is known for photographs and videos that deal with race, gender and politics, such as her seminal 1990 Kitchen Table Series. Those photographs depict Weems at her actual kitchen table with a single overhead light and illustrate different family relationships and conflicts in life, such as mother-daughter dynamics.

“As the first African American female visual artist to receive the National Medal of Arts in recognition for my contributions is profoundly humbling and a great honor,” Weems said in a statement through Syracuse University in New York, where she is artist in residence. “I thank my colleagues, along with the many other great women artists of color who came before me, widened the path and took the heat, but unfortunately were not recognized for their tremendous achievements.”

The National Medal of Arts is the highest award given to artists and arts patrons by the federal government. In yesterday’s ceremony, President Joe Biden presented the 2022 and 2023 awards. Those who won 2022 awards along with Weems include musicians Missy Elliott and Queen Latifah; actresses Idina Menzel and Eva Longoria; and photographers Randy A. Batista and Clyde Butcher.

Weems has been on the Portland Art Museum’s board of trustees since 2020. PAM has held two retrospectives of her work, in 1994 and 2013, as well as a 2020 and 2021 exhibition focused on BIPOC community health and resilience during the COVID pandemic. The museum holds 1990′s Untitled (Woman with daughter) from the Kitchen Table Series in its collection along with other Weems artworks, including a recently acquired photograph Weems made in Portland during the 2020 protests.

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