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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 22, 1993                   TAG: 9301220283
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

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PHOTOS EXPLORE BLACKS' IDENTITIES

The contemporary American photographer Carrie Mae Weems has said the status and place of blacks in this country are her primary concern in art, as in politics.

Now, "Carrie Mae Weems," a traveling survey of her work, has opened at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. It runs through March 21 and features about 120 photographs and accompanying texts from the late 1970s through 1992.

Weems uses imagery, narratives and humor to explore ideas of identity. Her 1987 "Ain't Jokin' " series gives racist jokes a positive twist; the 1990 "Colored People" uses a grid of portraits to show color distinctions among blacks.

In "Untitled," also from 1990, Weems photographs herself and friends enacting scenarios from daily life to depict changing relationships. Her newest series chronicles the Gullah people of the Georgia-Carolina Sea Islands.

After Washington, the exhibition is scheduled for St. Louis, San Francisco, Miami, Cincinnati, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, and Portland, Ore.

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