5. Carrie Mae Weems, When & Where I Enter, The British Museum

5. Carrie Mae Weems, When & Where I Enter, The British Museum

2008, archival pigment print, 42 x 36 inches
[courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York]

Born in Portland, OR, in 1953, Carrie Mae Weems received a BA from the California Institute of the Arts and an MFA from the University of California, San Diego; since, she has become one of the most celebrated American artists of her time. She is best known for tension-filled photographs that examine art historical narratives, the sociocultural role of museums, and issues of beauty, culture, race, class, and gender.^*

In When & Where I Enter, The British Museum, Weems can be seen from behind, wearing a long black dress as she walks toward the façade of the British Museum in London. She is situated to the far left of the image, nearly removed from the scene, a placement that alludes to the omission of non-European voices in many leading museums and cultural institutions throughout the world. As a whole, the series examines museums and cultural institutions, as well as their practices of collection and display, and raises questions about who is truly at home in grand, seemingly exclusionary museum settings.

—Jayson Overby

^*Biographical portion includes work by Jason Overby and Cornelia Stokes.