Carrie Mae Weems

Guggenheim Bilbao, 2006

In the acclaimed body of work first begun twenty years ago The Museum Series, the artist is framed by art institutions around the world. Dressed in black with her back to the camera, Weems faces the grand stone and metal facades of institutions in Europe and the U.S. Using her body to stand in for the viewer, Weems questions the exclusionary histories of the places she visits and how they were formed as Royal, State or Private collections. The resulting images act as ruminations on the collecting and exhibiting practices of these sites, raising urgent questions race and gender inequality, agency, and access that surround them.