Carrie Mae Weems

       Looking through the list of artists, I felt the most moved and impacted by Carrie Mae Weem's work. I felt that her photography has a great deal of meaning. It is very powerful in the sense that it instantly had me thinking about the content of her photos. One in particular that stood out to me was, "The Healer". The healer shows a Cuban man working on the body of what I am guessing to be a hardworking mother or provider. Most of the images we see in popular media are unrealistic views of woman and in this image I am not bombarded with photoshop corrections or a ghost of a human. I am looking at a real person with a story or message. Weems offers honesty and humanity, but shows the struggle as we make our way through life. I respect her work because she is so brave and wants to be as true to her message and to people as she can be. These are very admirable traits. 

The photo itself is rich in hues, light, and texture.  Her decision to position herself so she gets the view of the back of her subjects created more depth to the photo and shows she has a good sense of composition. Controlled chaos always appeals to me in a photo and I appreciate it when people are able to balance everything going on in a photo to create a certain kind of balance in the photo. There is also a certain nobility and grace that I see in this image. The grace of the woman as she leans her head forward and strength that you can see emanating from her person. Overall, I enjoy the honest beauty that is portrayed in this image. We are often trained or directed on how we should interpret beauty. As a result, seeing something so genuinely beautiful can get lost if we have not cultivated our perceptions to the true beauty in life that we may become blind to. Looking at Weem's work reminds me what honest and powerful work can achieve that more contrived photography cannot. To do this kind of work takes a great deal of strength and courage and I admire Carrie Mae Weems for being able to create such evocative work.