‘I’m Not Making Something Because It’s Fun’: Watch Artist Carrie Mae Weems Stage a Performance About Violence and Forgiveness

In June 2015, almost exactly five years ago, the country was
reeling in the aftermath of the shooting at the Emanuel African
Methodist Episcopal Church in
Charleston, South Caroline, which killed nine worshippers. Now,
once again, the country is reckoning with its legacy of violence
against black Americans, as protesters around the world join the
fight for justice in the wake of George Floyd’s murder at the hands
of Minnesota police officers.

In June 2016, just one year after that incident, artist Carrie Mae Weems debuted the multimedia
performance Grace Notes: Reflections for Now at
the College of Charleston’s Sottile Theatre, just three blocks away
from the church. Weems is best known as a photographer,
but Grace Notes blends music, spoken word,
dance, and video to honor the deaths of so many black
Americans.

The work’s title pays homage to then President Barack Obama’s
eulogy for South Carolina state senator Clementa Pinckney, who
was killed at the church, when he sang an impromptu, and deeply
moving, version of “Amazing Grace.”

In an exclusive interview with Art21 from that year, the artist described the
genesis of Grace Notes, which was inspired by the
Greek tragedy Antigone, in which a woman is unable to
bury her brothers because the community denies that their deaths
ever happened. “The thing to me that is remarkable about our
history,” she told Art21, “about how we have conducted ourselves in
the onslaught of history, has been to maintain our dignity… that to
me is really the ultimate call of grace.”

The video, which appeared as part of Art21’s Extended Play series,
also includes a performer who participated in the event challenging
Weems: “Why we always got to goddamn forgive so quick?” That is a
question that so many around the world are asking themselves, as
tragedy after tragedy unfolds, and Weems acknowledged the
incredible stress put upon Black men in particular.

“I’m not making something because it’s fun,” she told Art21. Instead, she wants audiences to leave
with questions, like those posed by her fellow performer. If “they
have really engaged with something deep for themselves… but there
is some glimmer… then I’m alright.”

Watch the video, which originally appeared as part
of Art21’s PBS series “Extended Play” below. 

This is an installment of “Art on Video,” a collaboration
between Artnet News and Art21 that brings you clips of newsmaking
artists. A new series of the nonprofit Art21’s flagship series Art
in the Twenty-First Century is available now on PBS. Catch episodes
of other series like “New York Close Up” and “Extended Play” and
learn about the organization’s educational programs
at Art21.org.

The post ‘I’m Not Making Something Because It’s Fun’: Watch
Artist Carrie Mae Weems Stage a Performance About Violence and
Forgiveness appeared first on artnet News.