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Indepth Arts News:
"Carrie Mae Weems: The Hampton Project"
2002-01-29 until 2002-04-21
University Art Museum, California State University, Long Beach
Long Beach, ,
USA United States of America
This compelling new exhibition features a recent body of work by Carrie Mae Weems, an artist renowned for her critical and oftentimes controversial projects. With The Hampton Project, Weems explores issues of race, education, and assimilation through a critical, multi-media investigation of the Hampton Institute (now Hampton University) and its methods of instruction for African American and Native American pupils at the turn of the twentieth century.
The installation is comprised of large hanging scrims, original and historical photographs and reproductions, and lyrical audio recordings. Images from The Hampton Album, rare, original photographs by Frances Benjamin Johnston (1864-1952)—one of the earliest female pioneers in the field of photography — are also included. The exhibition, organized by Williams College Museum of Art, was originally scheduled to appear at Hampton University, but its run at that venue was cancelled when the University took exception to Weems’ interpretation of Hampton’s history and ideals.
The UAM presentation of The Hampton Project will be the only West Coast appearance of this important exhibition. On view through April 21, the show coincides with both Black History Month and Women’s History Month, making the resoundingly poignant material all the more topical. Several events are planned to compliment the exhibition, including special lectures and musical performances.
IMAGE:
Carrie Mae Weems,
The Hampton Project,2000,
digital photographs printed with pigmented inks on muslin and canvas.
Courtesy the artist and Pilkington Olsoff Fine Arts, Inc.
New York, Photography by Arthur Evans.
This show is organized by Williams College Museum of Art.
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