from The Louisiana Project
by Carrie Mae Weems
Archival pigment prints
In these photographs, Weems appears in a tailcoat and masked as various animals. These works were originally made as part of ‘The Louisiana Project’, a multimedia series which addresses a long legacy of racism and colonialism in the state of Louisiana during the Antebellum period. The series was commissioned to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase, a treatise which allowed the United States to colonise a vast area of land that doubled the size of the country. This land was mostly inhabited by Indigenous peoples.
‘Missing Links’ explores the white supremacism underpinning the Mardi Gras carnival in New Orleans. A parade in 1873, themed ‘The Missing Links to Darwin’s Origin of Species’, was a direct attack on the increasing social mobility of Black people in the American South. Costumed in reference to the racist caricatures of that parade, Weems subverts their power and exposes their hollowness.*
From the exhibition
Carrie Mae Weems: Reflections for Now
(June — September 2023)
The first major UK exhibition dedicated to one of the most influential American artists working today, Carrie Mae Weems.
Carrie Mae Weems is celebrated for her exploration of identity, power, desire and social justice through work that challenges representations of race, gender, and class. The largest presentation of the artist’s multi-disciplinary work in the UK to date, this exhibition brought together photographs, films and installations spanning over three decades.
Weems came to prominence in the early 1980s through photographic work that questioned how the representation of the Black subject, particularly within the US, has historically reproduced systemic racism and inequality. The exhibition captured the performative and cinematic nature of her practice, from the iconic Kitchen Table Series (1990) to the epic film installation The Shape of Things (2021) focusing on the history of violence in the United States.
[*Barbican Centre]
Taken in the Barbican Centre
Estate of flats, maisonettes and terraced houses, hostel, girls' school, school of music and drama, and arts centre (with concert hall, theatre, studio theatre, cinemas, library, art gallery, conservatory, restaurants and offices), with underground car parking, pedestrian walks and canal. Designed 1955-59, arts centre element redesigned 1964-8; built with modifications in 1962-82 to the designs of Chamberlin, Powell and Bon (subsequently Chamberlin, Powell and Bon (Barbican)) for the Corporation of the City of London; engineers, Ove Arup and Partners.
[Historic England]
The name of the Barbican comes from the Low Latin word 'Barbecana' which referred to a fortified outpost or gateway: an outer defence of a city or castle or any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defence purposes. The "Barbecana" was probably situated somewhere between the northern side of the Church of St. Giles Cripplegate and the YMCA hostel on Fann Street.
By the 1850s the City was composed of high, dark buildings and narrow streets with inadequate breadth to accommodate the increased volume of horse drawn traffic that endeavoured to pass along them. Above all, it was overcrowded; the population of the City was 129,000 and the number of people living in the parish of Cripplegate, the area now occupied by the Barbican, was 14,000. The Cripplegate area was, to a large extent, occupied by the 'rag trade' – which included anything from the buying and selling of cloth to tailoring and dressmaking.
During the Second World War the City suffered appalling damage and loss of life. The Cripplegate area was virtually demolished and by 1951 the resident population stood at only 48, with 5,324 in the whole City.
Discussions started in 1952 on what sort of redevelopment should take place on the devastated site. Many people involved with the City of London voiced their concern at the dwindling number of residents living within the Square Mile and plans were considered for returning a stable population. A report was presented and the Court of Common Council, of 19 September 1957, accepted as a matter of policy that there should be a genuine residential area created on the site.
[City of London]
