A cyclorama installation where artist Carrie Mae Weems addresses conditions of race in the United States. 'The Shape of Things: A Film in Seven Parts' includes old and new footage projected on a 180 degree curve, reminiscent of 19th-century theatre and spectacle to comment on the “pageantry” and “circus-like” quality of contemporary American political life.
In this performance for camera, Weems creates a ritual dance through the pillars of Peter Eisenmann’s ‘Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe’, completed in Berlin in 2005. Accompanied by the music of American composer Gregory Wanamaker, Weems appears and disappears, her fluid movement punctuated by short, sharp claps.
In 2004 Checkerboard had the privilege of filming Carrie Mae Weems discussing her body of work, comprised of 17 projects spanning more than two decades (1981-2004). This dynamic presentation was accompanied by slides of the artist's photographs and excerpts from her video art. The result is a chaptered lecture guided by Weems's seductive voice and passionate presence. The viewer is transported into her world as she details what she is trying to uncover, illuminate, investigate and provoke through her lens.
An introduction to the work of some of the foremost Black visual artists working today, inspired by the late David Driskell's landmark 1976 exhibition, "Two Centuries of Black American Art."