Carrie Mae Weems: The Heart of the Matter 

“I discovered that I was the reference point, and the point of view, pointing the viewer toward the likes of me in history. Later, I understood this photographic self to be a muse and a guide into the unknown.”—Carrie Mae Weems 

• An illuminating meditation on the centering of self by one of the most influential voices in the contemporary art world

• A comprehensive survey with a fresh perspective on this iconic artist’s personal and spiritual journeys, including a newly commissioned series on the Black church 

Transcending medium, chronology, and geography, Carrie Mae Weems: The Heart of the Matter puts the artist—as well as her spiritual and philosophical journeys—at the center of the discourse. Weems is a touchstone artist, renowned for her work investigating history, identity, and power. A comprehensive survey, The Heart of the Matter features generous presentations of landmark bodies of work, from Family Pictures and Stories (1978–84) to her most recent series on the Black church. Throughout the exhibition and accompanying book, the artist’s spiritual musings provide critical insight into the iconic artist’s mind and eye. Newly commissioned essays and additional contributions from esteemed thinkers and scholars across generations underscore the singular value of Weems’s vision in grappling with the complexities and injustices of the world around us.

Carrie Mae Weems (born in Portland, Oregon, 1953) is a widely influential artist whose work gives a voice to people whose stories have been silenced or ignored. Over the course of forty years, she has built an acclaimed body of work using photographs, text, fabric, audio, digital images, installation, and video. Her work is in collections worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; and Tate Modern, London.

Sarah Hermanson Meister is executive director at Aperture. She worked in the Department of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, for more than twenty-five years, where she curated acclaimed exhibitions on the work of Josef Albers, Brazilian modernist photographers, Dorothea Lange, and many more. 

Curated by Sarah Hermanson Meister and organized by Gallerie d’Italia – Intesa Sanpaolo and Aperture

Image credits: © Carrie Mae Weems and reproduced courtesy of the artist and Gladstone Gallery, New York; Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco; and Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin. 

Installation images: Copyright Andrea Guermani / Gallerie d’Italia – Intesa Sanpaolo