Powerful Connections
Photographs by Carrie Mae Weems and Dawoud Bey reveal the rhythms in the everyday
Left: Dawoud Bey (Photo Credit: Whitten Sabbatini). Right: Carrie Mae Weems
Body Content
Photographers Dawoud Bey and Carrie Mae Weems were born in 1953, met in 1976, and have spent the last 45 years in each other's sphere of influence.
How does a lifetime of friendship and professional successes influence the work of two world-renowned artists?
This spring, Getty presents an exhibition, organized by the Grand Rapids Art Museum, that brings together several important series by the two artists. The show explores the ways their shared values, compelled by both artistic and social motivations, have shaped their relationship to making photographs.
Untitled (Woman standing alone), 1990, Carrie Mae Weems. Gelatin silver print, 40 x 40 in. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York. © Carrie Mae Weems
A Young Man Resting on an Exercise Bike, Amityville, NY, 1988, Dawoud Bey. Gelatin silver print, 20 x 24 in. Courtesy of Stephen Daiter Gallery. © Dawoud Bey
Dawoud Bey is best known for his intimate and tender portraits of people he encounters, while Carrie Mae Weems is most closely associated with conceptual strategies like staged scenes and the inclusion of text. Both photographers began with an interest in the documentary tradition, but they have developed radically different approaches to depicting the world around them. However, a close look at their work reveals compelling parallels.
The Edge of Time-Ancient Rome, 2006, Carrie Mae Weems. Chomogenic print, 73 × 61 in. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York. © Carrie Mae Weems
Two Women at a Parade, 1978; printed 1979, Dawoud Bey. Gelatin silver print, 8 × 11 7/8 in. Grand Rapids Art Museum, Museum Purchase, 2018.21. © Dawoud Bey. Courtesy of Stephen Daiter Gallery
Pairing their photographs allows us to appreciate moments like these: two photographs taken roughly 30 years apart, on opposite corners of the world, that touch on similar themes.
Bey’s 1978 image captures two women whose path is blocked by a police barrier. Weems’ 2006 self-portrait captures a moment on the outer edge of Rome, as part of her series titled Roaming, which reflects on the power of the state in relation to individual citizens. Only by looking at these photographs together do the common themes of barriers, power, and dynamics of inclusion and exclusion come into focus.
First Self Portrait, 1975, Carrie Mae Weems. Gelatin silver print, 8 5/8 × 8 5/8 in. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York. © Carrie Mae Weems
Self and Shadow, New York, NY, 1980, Dawoud Bey. Gelatin silver print, 21 1/2 × 14 3/8 in. Courtesy of Stephen Daiter Gallery. © Dawoud Bey
Both artists are highly acclaimed for their ability to capture the beauty of everyday life. Here are two very different self-portraits, one from the 1970s, another from the 1980s—what similarities do you find when they are paired together?
“As viewers of art,” posits the exhibition’s accompanying publication Dawoud Bey & Carrie Mae Weems: In Dialogue, “we are all impacted by our ways of seeing and experiencing life.”
Through these images, audiences are invited to explore the artists’ commonalities and discover revelations about the works, and, in the process, themselves.
Visit the exhibition Dawoud Bey & Carrie Mae Weems: In Dialogue at the Getty Center, April 4–July 9, 2023.
