Artist Carrie Mae Weems to be Honored at ICP’s 2015 Spotlights Luncheon

The International Center of Photography (ICP) will present the Spotlights Award to Carrie Mae Weems at the fourth annual ICP Spotlights luncheon on Tuesday, January 27, 2015. This event honors the significant contributions of female artists in photography and film. Past years featured Mary Ellen Mark, Shirin Neshat, and Stephanie Sinclair, among others.

Weems, who uses photographs, text, fabric, audio, and video to tackle themes including families, gender, identity, and politics, will be in discussion with Thelma Golden, Director and Chief Curator of The Studio Museum in Harlem. The luncheon will also feature a special acknowledgement to Deirdre Donohue, ICP’s Librarian, and a silent auction in partnership with Paddle8. The auction includes unique studio visits and other experiences as well as a print sale featuring notable faculty and alumni from the ICP School such as Jen Davis, Deana Lawson, Spencer Tunick, and Hannah Whitaker. Support raised through the event and auction benefits education and exhibition programs at ICP. 

Considered one of the most influential contemporary American artists, Carrie Mae Weems has investigated family relationships, cultural identity, sexism, class, political systems, and the consequences of power. Determined as ever to enter the picture — both literally and metaphorically — Weems has sustained an ongoing dialogue within contemporary discourse for over 30 years. During this time, Weems has developed a complex body of art employing photographs, text, fabric, audio, digital images, installation, and video. In a recent review of her retrospective in the New York Times, Holland Cotter wrote, “Ms. Weems is what she has always been, a superb image maker and a moral force, focused and irrepressible.”