Moody Blue Girl
Artist: Carrie Mae Weems (American, born 1953)
Date: 1997
Dimensions:
30 × 30 in. (76.2 × 76.2 cm)
Frame: 30 15/16 × 30 15/16 × 1 1/2 in. (78.6 × 78.6 × 3.8 cm)
Medium: Silver print with text on mat
Classification: Photographs
Credit Line: Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number: 2017.18
Label Text:Moody Blue Girl stems from Carrie Mae Weems’ series Colored People of 1989–90 that features hand-tinted photographic portraits of African American adolescents. Each image in this series has a background tone that corresponds to titles such as Blue, Black, Boy and High, Yella, Girl. With this imagery, Weems celebrates the vibrant diversity of skin color—the many shades of Black—among African Americans. At the same time, she highlights the artificiality of these naming traditions and calls attention to the existence of a color-based caste system.
A MacArthur “Genius Award” recipient internationally recognized for her artistic practice informed by social and political activism, Weems often uses familiar language—jokes, songs, puns—to scrutinize issues of race, class, and gender identity and to expose stereotypes. Her work in photography, video, and installation/performance frequently re-inserts the experiences of commonly overlooked individuals or groups into the historical record.
A MacArthur “Genius Award” recipient internationally recognized for her artistic practice informed by social and political activism, Weems often uses familiar language—jokes, songs, puns—to scrutinize issues of race, class, and gender identity and to expose stereotypes. Her work in photography, video, and installation/performance frequently re-inserts the experiences of commonly overlooked individuals or groups into the historical record.
Not on view