Carrie Mae Weems and The White Gaze
Insurrection: The Power of Whiteness
January 6th will forever be a stain in the racially weathered history of this country and democracy. Insurrectionists are what the news outlets are calling the throngs of Trump supporters who invaded Capitol Hill. These “protestors,” largely white, were allowed free reign over the building most sacred to the power of this nation. And in their whiteness, they are labelled protestors. Photographs of the afternoon relay hazes of red, white and blue. These predominantly white supremacists were poured over the Capitol by arsonist President Donald J. Trump. This is the white gaze of our governance and media.
Source: http://carriemaeweems.net/galleries/from-here.html
Carrie Mae Weems’ and the White Gaze
The Museum of Modern Art currently features Carrie Mae Weems’ From Here I saw What Happened and I Cried. Contemporary artist Weems is most known for exploring themes of race, power and class. The installation of Weems’ work lies on the second floor of the MoMA. The collection consists of 33 different photographs of African and African American men, women and children. The images are cropped, enlarged and tinted red. Each photograph is framed in a shape that mimics a camera lens.
Weems employs a portion of photographs taken by Joseph T. Zealy. Zealy, an anthropologist, captured these snapshots of enslaved Africans in the 1850s. They were intended to classify black bodies as specimen. Said slaves were deemed innately flawed. They were defined as “not human.”
Source: http://carriemaeweems.net/galleries/from-here.html
Weems overlays each image with a sentence in white font. The combination of 33 sentences highlights a narrative of systemic injustice. This is the narrative echoed by our country today. Walking around gallery, the viewer can recognize the effects of the white man’s gaze. An African woman is reduced to a scientific profile. Likewise, an African American slave is but a “mammie,” a derogatory stereotype.
Black and White America
Institutions and governments view black bodies in a mostly unchanged manner today. The white gaze has manifested in needless police brutality, systemic poverty, and lingering systemic racism. As Weems’ states about her own work: “When we’re looking at these images, we’re looking at the ways in which Anglo America—white America—saw itself in relationship to the Black subject.”
Source: http://carriemaeweems.net/galleries/from-here.html
This film of privilege has been draped over the foundation of our land, our government and our leaders. For far too long, the power of the white gaze has subjugated the most vulnerable, from slavery to colonialism. Today is as relevant a time as ever to explore the power of the photographic gaze in amplifying dynamics of racial inferiority and superiority.