How can personal images make us think about inequality and power in society? During this tour, a FOMU guide will take you through the work of American artist Carrie Mae Weems. This tour can be booked by all secondary education programs.
Discover The Heart of the Matter, the first retrospective exhibition in Belgium of the influential American artist Carrie Mae Weems (1953). Through her poignant photographs and video installations, she explores themes such as race, gender, power, and memory. Weems is often the subject, guide, and muse in her photographs.
Her experiences as a black woman are the starting point for her exploration of ‘forgotten’ histories. She shows places that often remain out of sight: from intimate kitchen tables to film sets, from African-American churches to former plantations. Weems weaves personal stories into her work to address the complexity and injustice in today's world.
Carrie Mae Weems' work is represented in collections around the world and has been exhibited internationally at MoMA, the Guggenheim (New York), Tate, the Barbican (London), Centre Pompidou (Paris), Luma (Arles) and the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), among others.
The exhibition is organized by Gallerie d’Italia – Intesa Sanpaolo and Aperture and is curated by Sarah Hermanson Meister.
Practical information
- For whom? secondary education, for all majors. When making your reservation, please indicate the age, level and/or area of interest of the students, our guide will prepare the visit to your needs
- Duration: 90 minutes (1,5 hours)
- Max: 20 students per group
- Supervisors: Per group of 20 students, 2 supervisors are admitted free of charge. For each group of 20 students, at least 1 supervisor must be present.
- Museum admission: free for secondary school students
- Period: from 20.03.2026 to 23.08.2026
What to expect?
- During a 1,5-hour tour, the guide takes the students through Carrie Mae Weems' oeuvre.
- The guide delves deeper into a selection of photographs and highlight the social context of the works.
- The guide encourages the students to look at the images critically and consciously and to reflect on current social issues.
- Students are given assignments to actively engage themselves.
Themes & competences
- Themes covered: photography, image formation, power relations, representation, identity, inequality, history, social structures, African-American culture
- Key competences: physical and emotional awareness, social-relational, citizenship, historical awareness, self-awareness and self-expression, cultural awareness
- Relevant subjects: visual arts, citizenship, photography – video – film, behavioral and cultural sciences, history, philosophy of life, philosophy and moral sciences, PAV, Dutch, English, French
