Carrie Mae WeemsPainting the Town07.02. - 09.06.2025
Rijksmuseum
Carrie Mae Weems, *1953 in Portland, Oregon, USA,
lives and works in Syracuse, New York, USA
Concurrently with American Photography, Carrie Mae Weems’s 2021 series Painting the Town will be on show in the Rijksmuseum’s photography gallery. At first glance Weems’ large and powerful works resemble abstract paintings. During the Black Lives Matter protests, campaigners wrote texts on the panels that shopkeepers had used to board up their windows as a precautionary measure. The authorities then rendered the slogans illegible by covering them with large patches of paint. The unintended result of this act of censorship was a series of painterly compositions. Weems uses her work to explore what it means to be a witness to history, through themes such as racism, sexism and discrimination.
Carrie Mae Weems: Painting the Town is made possible in part by the Friends’ Lottery and the Women of the Rijksmuseum Fund.
Exhibition Views
