Kitchen Table Series

For this series, Carrie Mae Weems staged and photographed a fictional drama in which she plays the lead. The setting is always the same: a small room with a table and a single overhead light. Other cast members play lovers, friends, and daughters.

From this modest setup, the artist creates an entire world. The kitchen, traditionally considered a female space, has rarely been pictured as a site of importance. Weems turns this idea on its head. She suggests the kitchen table is the real stage where life’s biggest moments play out, and where the full range of human emotions is expressed.

The series compellingly examines women’s lives. It boldly asserts, in particular, Black womanhood’s complexity, strength, and beauty.