Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identifier

6104

Date

2017

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Major

Art History

Concentration

Art History

Committee Chair

Earnestine Jenkins

Committee Member

Virginia Solomon

Committee Member

Patricia Daigle

Abstract

While scholarship on Carrie Mae Weems's series titled From Here I Saw What Happened and I Cried often reflects the significance of the work as it relates to the African American experience and the African diaspora, critical discussion downplays the relationship the installation has to institutional critique and social practice. Through the course of this paper, I present extensive research on Weems's series. In order to conduct my investigation, I look to the genesis of the series in 1995 as a response piece to Hidden Witness. I then consider Weems's methodology and the way in which she appropriates historic photographs in her series to manipulate narratives both past and present and interrogate collections practice. Finally, through an investigation of contemporary museum ethics, I consider how Weems's curatorial sensibilities are similar to those of museum professionals today.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.

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