The Assassination of Medgar, Malcolm, and Martin, from the series Constructing History

Carrie Mae Weems, The Assassination of Medgar, Malcolm, and Martin, from the series Constructing History, 2008, archival pigment print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2022.48.8, © Carrie Mae Weems. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.
Carrie Mae Weems, The Assassination of Medgar, Malcolm, and Martin, from the series Constructing History, 2008, archival pigment print, 61 12 × 51 38 × 3 in. (156.2 × 130.5 × 7.6 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2022.48.8, © Carrie Mae Weems. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.

Artwork Details

Title
The Assassination of Medgar, Malcolm, and Martin, from the series Constructing History
Date
2008
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
61 12 × 51 38 × 3 in. (156.2 × 130.5 × 7.6 cm)
Copyright
© Carrie Mae Weems. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.
Credit Line
Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
Mediums Description
archival pigment print
Classifications
Subjects
  • African American
  • History — United States — Black History
  • History
  • Figure group
Object Number
2022.48.8

Artwork Description

As a visiting professor at the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2008, Carrie Mae Weems marked the fortieth anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s death by producing this photographic series with her students. Together, they reconstructed key moments of the 1960s, as well as images and events related to the broad subjects of civil and human rights.

The photographs are constructions, literally and metaphorically. The ever-present mechanism of their staging speaks to the constructed nature of all photographs, reminding viewers that seemingly neutral elements such as lighting and framing are, in fact, never neutral. In several, Weems and her students restaged iconic images from the canon of photojournalism, recalling the image-saturated news coverage of events like the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King.

They also used compositional tropes from Western art history. For instance, Mourning, a restaging of Moneta Sleet Jr.'s photograph of Coretta Scott King and Bernice King at Martin Luther King's funeral, was staged as a Pietà, in Christian art a representation of the Virgin Mary holding the body of her deceased son. Images of traumatic events like Sleet's may wound viewers at first, but their impact is blunted by time and repetition. Weems's reenactments reopen the wounds of history. They do so as a means of processing, reflecting, and laying those wounds to rest. They enact a kind of reconciliation, with and through images.

Works by this artist (1 item)

Alicia Eggert, This Present Moment, 2019-2020, neon, custom controller, steel, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Renwick General Acquisitions Fund, 2021.4, © 2019, Alicia Eggert
This Present Moment
Date2019-2020
neon, custom controller, steel
On view

Exhibitions

Media - 2023.9A-G - SAAM-2023.9A-G_1 - 147614
Carrie Mae Weems: Looking Forward, Looking Back
September 22, 2023July 7, 2024
This focused exhibition pairs two projects by Carrie Mae Weems—a major multimedia installation and a series of photographs—that revisit moments from history.

More Artworks from the Collection

Cat Mazza, Knit for Defense, 2011-2012, single-channel digital video, black and white, surround sound; 9:10 minutes, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 2012.28, © 2012, Cat Mazza
Knit for Defense
Date2011-2012
single-channel digital video, black and white, surround sound; 9:10 minutes
Not on view
Kota Ezawa, LYAM 3D, 2008, digital animation, color, silent; 04:00 minutes, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible through Deaccession Funds, 2010.23, © 2008, Kota Ezawa
LYAM 3D
Date2008
digital animation, color, silent; 04:00 minutes
Not on view
Rico Gatson, History Lessons, 2004, four-channel video, color, sound; 10:12 minutes, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2015.7.2, © 2004, Aunrico Gatson
History Lessons
Date2004
four-channel video, color, sound; 10:12 minutes
Not on view
The Passage
Date2009
single-channel video, color, sound; 19:00 minutes
Not on view