Fact Sheet: ​“Carrie Mae Weems: Looking Forward, Looking Back” 

Exhibition   

“Carrie Mae Weems: Looking Forward, Looking Back”  
Sept. 22–July 7, 2024  

Where  

Smithsonian American Art Museum, Eighth and G Streets. N.W.  

Description   

This focused exhibition pairs two projects in which Weems invites others to step back in time. “Lincoln, Lonnie, and Me–A Story in 5 Parts” (2012) is a multimedia installation that transforms the gallery into a 19th-century illusionistic theater. This complex work brings to life episodes from the American Civil War to the present, accompanied by a soundtrack that evokes the constitutional promise of equality, along with projections of recurring racial and gender difference that make achieving it so elusive. It is accompanied by eight photographs from her series “Constructing History” (2008). Weems worked with college students to restage iconic photographs from World War II to the civil rights era and beyond. All the artworks were recently acquired by the museum; the installation is the only major video work by the artist in a public collection in the Washington, D.C., region. 

The exhibition is organized by Saisha Grayson, curator of time-based media, and John Jacob, the McEvoy Family Curator for Photography. 

Virtual Artist Conversation 

Wednesday, Sept. 20, at 6:30 ET; registration required. 

Credit  

“Carrie Mae Weems: Looking Forward, Looking Back” received federal support from the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative Pool, administered by the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum. 

Note to editors: Selected high-resolution images for publicity only are available through the museum’s Dropbox account. Email americanartpressoffice@si.edu to request the link.