Untitled (Woman standing)

A touchstone of shared American experience, the kitchen table stands in for moments of everyday life, serving as a scene for meals, family gatherings, and celebrations, as well as for quiet reflection. Carrie Mae Weems pictures the kitchen table as a stage for the performance of womanhood in these photographs. Using herself as the subject, the artist traces an unfolding story of domestic life: love, loss, family responsibility, and feminine strength emerge as overarching themes.

Casting herself as the Everywoman at the center of this narrative, Weems seeks to connect her experience as a modern black woman in America with the viewer. Though African Americans typically serve as her primary subjects, in displaying everyday scenes at a family table, Weems wants these figures “to stand for the human multitudes.” To the artist, photography becomes a medium for identifying common experience across color boundaries.