Untitled
Carrie Mae Weems American
Not on view
Weems's Sea Island Series captures the visible traces of the Gullah community off the coast of Georgia and South Carolina. The Gullah are descendents of slaves from Africa's "Rice Coast" (an area stretching from Senegal down to Sierra Leone and Liberia) who were valued by American colonists for their expertise in cultivating the difficult crop.
Weems, who was trained as a folklorist, documented the remnants of African culture that have been preserved by this geographically isolated and tightly knit community for the last three hundred years. Here, this mattress spring hanging mysteriously in the trees-at first glance a poetic intervention in the landscape-is meant to ensnare evil spirits.
