THE ART ISSUE

Mary J. Blige and Carrie Mae Weems in Conversation: On Race, Women, Music and the Future

For W’s Art Issue, two regal artists sat down to talk and pay homage to Blige’s continuing reign and Weems’s The Kitchen Table Series and 2010 Slow Fade to Black series.

by Diane Solway

Mary J. Blige - Crowning Glory - December 2017
Photographs by Carrie Mae Weems; Styled by Styled by Paul Cavaco. Hair by Kim Kimble for Kimble Hair Care Systems at 
SixK.LA; makeup by D’Andre Michael for U.G.L.Y. Girl 
Cosmetics. Set design by Kadu Lennox at Frank Reps. Produced by Carly Day at Rosco Production; Production Coordinator: Marie Robinson at Rosco Production; retouching by silhouette studio; Lighting Director: Rob Kassabian at Honey Artists; Photography Assistants: James Wang, Pamela Vander Zwan, Adger Cowans; Lighting Assistant: David Schinman; Gaffer: Armando Reyes; Fashion Assistants: EJ Briones, nicholas eftaxias; Tailor: Christy Rilling; Set Design Coordinator: Joanna Seitz; Production Assistants: Will Foster, Alejandro Armas, Carl Miller; Special thanks to Dienst + Dotter Antikviteter, Skylight Studios, Pier59 Locations.

Long before female empowerment became a nationwide rallying cry, the artist Carrie Mae Weems and the singer-songwriter Mary J. Blige had their work cut out for them. Weems, who is now 64, first picked up a camera at the age of 18 and over the decades has recast the ways in which black women have been ­portrayed in images. Early on she realized that she couldn’t count on others to make the pictures she wanted to see. In her seminal work The Kitchen Table Series (1990), she ruminates on race, class, and gender in an unfolding domestic story in which she appears as the protagonist. Shot in black and white, with alternating images and panels of text, the series shows the artist at her kitchen table, alone and with others, seated under a hanging lamp, playing cards, chatting with female friends, and hugging a male partner.

Since that career-defining project, Weems, who lives in Syracuse, New York, has been honored with a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant,” a medal of arts from the U.S. State Department, and numerous museum solo shows, including a retrospective in 2014 at New York’s Guggenheim—the museum’s first-ever survey of an African-American female artist. More recently, in her 2016 series Scenes & Take, she photographed herself standing on the empty stage sets of such TV shows as Empire and Scandal, contemplating the cultural climate that gives rise to commanding black heroines onscreen.

Oscar de la Renta dress; Djula earrings; (right hand, top) Vhernier ring; David Webb rings. Carrie Mae Weems wears her own clothing and jewelry.

In Mary J. Blige, the queen of hip-hop soul, best known for her raw, openly autobiographical songs of empowerment, Weems found a towering ally. Like Weems, the Bronx-born Blige, 46, is a storyteller, and also began her career at 18, when she became the youngest female recording artist to sign with Uptown Records. Her Puff Daddy–produced 1992 debut, What’s the 411?, went multiplatinum, as did many of the hits that followed; so far she’s won nine Grammys. Now she is generating Oscar buzz for her breakout performance in director Dee Rees’s critically acclaimed Mudbound, about two families in the Mississippi Delta during and after World War II, divided by the racism of their Klan-addled community.

Blige is quietly devastating as the wife of a sharecropper and matriarch of a struggling brood; while shooting the film, which will debut on November 17 on Netflix, Blige was dealing with the dissolution of her own marriage. In 2016 she filed for divorce from her husband of 12 years and manager, and emerged with her 13th studio album, Strength of a Woman, which serves as something of an anthem for her life. the New York Times called it “her most affecting and wounded album in several years.”

Mary J. Blige wears an Alberta Ferretti cape; Joseph coat; Djula earrings; vintage crown from Early Halloween, New York.

Photographs by Carrie Mae Weems; Styled by Styled by Paul Cavaco.

Both Weems and Blige command the spaces they occupy: Weems with her camera and incantatory style of speech, Blige with her presence and voice. For this project for W’s Art Issue, the two teamed up in a ­landmark 1920s-era bank building in Brooklyn, ­making pictures that reference Weems’s The Kitchen Table Series and 2010 Slow Fade to Black series, and Blige’s continuing reign.

Carrie Mae Weems: Long before I picked up a camera I was deeply concerned with the ways in which ­African-Americans were depicted, and, for the most part, I didn’t like what I saw. So one way of dealing with it was to step in and rethink how black women, more specifically, need to be represented. That’s been the guidepost; I’m always on that track. And today I was just looking at another woman, somebody I’ve admired, whose music has been a backdrop to my life. Mary, I see you as an extraordinarily beautiful woman who needs to be defined, described, articulated in an authentic way that celebrates the complexity and depths of your beauty and your internal self. From the moment you walked in, I wanted to greet you personally and invite you into a space of welcome with the understanding that I see me and you.

Balmain dress; Jacob & Co. earrings; Munnu the Gem Palace ring.

Photographs by Carrie Mae Weems; Styled by Styled by Paul Cavaco.

Mary J. Blige: Thank you. Same here. A lot of women don’t do that. I don’t see women getting along a lot. In my own circle, I see it because that’s what we do. We want to love on each other, and we want to build each other up, and we want to let each other know what you said just now: We see each other, and we see each other in each other. So I felt protected today, and I felt you cared, which is not always the case in most photo shoots—they just want the pictures. I thought, Okay, I’m going to have to do exactly what she did in order to make this hot. [Both laugh.]

Weems: Those last photographs! Child! I mean, that puppy was smokin’. It felt like the whole day we were ascending. I’m not in the commercial world—I spend 99 percent of my time in my studio by myself—so we were building each thing like interlocking circles so we could go to the next plane. I could feel it coming into a certain kind of flow, and then it became easy. And I thought, Let’s just have fun. There’s a ­wonderful saying: “Within seriousness there’s very little room for play, but within play there’s tremendous room for seriousness.”

Blige: I didn’t realize how vain I was until I started working on Mudbound. Once I saw how my character, Florence, lived [in a shack on a farm in Mississippi], I thought, Wow, I’m really a vain person. When I went to the movie set to do the first day of fittings, I was Mary J. Blige: I had just done a tour and a show, so I was all, you know, I had wigs and weaves and all sorts of things going on, and Dee Rees was like, “No! We want to see you. You can’t have a perm, you’re going to have minimal, minimal makeup.” And I was like, “What about lashes?” And she said no, and I was like, “Really? Florence doesn’t have lashes?” That part was a lot! A lot! But once I tore away and sunk into the character, Florence actually gave Mary—me, the so-vain person—a little more confidence so that Mary didn’t feel like she needed to depend on all of that. I cut my hair really short. Florence really liberated me. Just committing to and trusting that character kind of helped to save my life. I could also relate to her because she reminded me of my aunts and my grandmother who lived in the South. My mom used to send us to Savannah every summer. My grandmother had her own garden, chickens, cows; so I’ve seen chickens slaughtered, I’ve been on a farm.

First column from top: Alberta Ferretti cape; Joseph coat. Balmain dress. Third column: Oscar de la Renta dress. Tom Ford dress. Fifth column: Oscar de la Renta dress. Oscar de la Renta dress; Tom Ford coat.

Photographs by Carrie Mae Weems; Styled by Styled by Paul Cavaco.

Weems: You have this film, this history in music. Where do you see yourself going, and what do you want now?

Blige: I want, at some point, to not have to work so hard. I want peace of mind and acceptance of self, totally. I know that’s an ongoing process, so every single day I’m working on that, and it’s been hard ever since this challenge I’m having with this divorce. It was such a terrible thing. It made me see myself as “I have to be better than this”: I was never good enough; I was never pretty enough, smart enough. And there was someone chosen over me. It was like, I can’t stay, but it really let me see, Mary, you are better than that. You have to continue to grow.

Weems: We’ve all been through stuff. And the pain is so deep, but the place it takes you—right? The level of self-reflection—it’s all in the process. Working through that process brings you to a deeper and more profound understanding of who you are and your meaning to yourself.

Blige: Exactly.

Strength of a Woman: Mary J. Blige Photographed By Carrie Mae Weems

Mary J. Blige wears an Alberta Ferretti cape; Joseph coat; Djula earrings; vintage crown from Early Halloween, New York.

Photographs by Carrie Mae Weems; Styled by Styled by Paul Cavaco.

Mary J. Blige wears an Alberta Ferretti cape; Joseph coat; Djula earrings; vintage crown from Early Halloween, New York.

Photographs by Carrie Mae Weems; Styled by Styled by Paul Cavaco.

Pologeorgis coat; Gucci jacket; Fred Leighton tiara and necklace; stylist’s own earrings.

Photographs by Carrie Mae Weems; Styled by Styled by Paul Cavaco. Hair by Kim Kimble for Kimble Hair Care Systems at 
SixK.LA; makeup by D’Andre Michael for U.G.L.Y. Girl 
Cosmetics. Set design by Kadu Lennox at Frank Reps. Produced by Carly Day at Rosco Production; Production Coordinator: Marie Robinson at Rosco Production; retouching by silhouette studio; Lighting Director: Rob Kassabian at Honey Artists; Photography Assistants: James Wang, Pamela Vander Zwan, Adger Cowans; Lighting Assistant: David Schinman; Gaffer: Armando Reyes; Fashion Assistants: EJ Briones, nicholas eftaxias; Tailor: Christy Rilling; Set Design Coordinator: Joanna Seitz; Production Assistants: Will Foster, Alejandro Armas, Carl Miller; Special thanks to Dienst + Dotter Antikviteter, Skylight Studios, Pier59 Locations.

Balmain dress; Jacob & Co. earrings; Munnu the Gem Palace ring.

Photographs by Carrie Mae Weems; Styled by Styled by Paul Cavaco.

Oscar de la Renta dress; Djula earrings; (right hand, top) Vhernier ring; David Webb rings. Carrie Mae Weems wears her own clothing and jewelry.

First column from top: Alberta Ferretti cape; Joseph coat. Balmain dress. Third column: Oscar de la Renta dress. Tom Ford dress. Fifth column: Oscar de la Renta dress. Oscar de la Renta dress; Tom Ford coat.

Photographs by Carrie Mae Weems; Styled by Styled by Paul Cavaco.
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Weems: I’m older than you. I work hard every day, and I’m always trying to figure out how not to. But there’s something that’s a part of my DNA that’s about this constant, persistent level of examination. I’m always thinking about the craft, the art, about how to step in, not for the world, but for myself; these are the issues that concern me, and I can’t expect anybody else to deliver on my promise. Right? We were talking about this earlier. No matter what, you’re going to come home by yourself.

Blige: That’s done right now. I’m by myself.

Weems: Mary, I was telling you earlier about this beautiful image I have of [singer] Dinah Washington, who, too, is crowned. The act of crowning is about giving it up, it’s the act of recognition. For this project, I knew that I had to participate in crowning you as a gift and an homage. You are in it, and leading the way. Checkmate.

Blige: Checkmate, yeah!

Mary J. Blige, Eternal Style Icon, Has Been a Trendsetter Since the ’90s

The singer Mary J. Blige circa 1990 wearing a bodysuit, sunglasses, and hoop earrings. See all of her most iconic looks, here.

Al Pereira/Getty Images

Mary J. Blige attends the 1995 American Music Awards wearing an all-white pant suit, white painter’s hat, and silver sneakers.

Ron Galella/Getty Images

Mary J. Blige performs on stage at Madison Square Garden in 1995 wearing Fendi pants and a striped fur coat.

David Corio/Getty Images

Mary J. Blige attends the 1996 Grammy Awards wearing leopard-print pants and a matching hoodie shawl. See more of her best looks, here.

S. Granitz/Getty Images

Mary J. Blige wore a purple vinyl raincoat to the 1996 Soul Train Music Awards with matching tinted lens sunglasses.

Ron Galella/Getty Images

Mary J. Blige wore gold slouched boots and a matching gold two-piece look to the 2000 Soul Train Music Awards.

Ron Galella/Getty Images

Mary J. Blige attends the 2000 Grammy Awards wearing a pink gown and pink fur stole. See more of her best looks, here.

Dave Hogan/Getty Images

Mary J. Blige’s after party look for the 2000 Grammy Awards was also a matching all-pink ensemble, complete with bomber jacket and leather pants.

SGranitz/Getty Images

Mary J. Blige attends the 1st Annual BET Awards in 2001 wearing a distressed denim dress and white go-go boots.

Gregg DeGuire/Getty Images

Mary J. Blige wears a leather two piece suit with a fur bomber jacket to the 1999 Billboard Music Awards.

Ron Galella/Getty Images

Mary J. Blige performs in a patent leather motorcycle jacket, matching short shorts and silver knee-high boots and sunglasses in 1995.

Des Willie/Getty Images

Mary J. Blige performs at the Party In the Park concert in the UK in an all blue cowboy outfit, repping her home country abroad.

Mick Hutson/Getty Images

Mary J. Blige wears an all-gold outfit to the 11th Annual Soul Train Music Awards in 1997. On the red carpet, she flashed her mesh shirt with pasty patches.

SGranitz/Getty Images

Mary J. Blige closed out the 90s in a pinstripe suit at a gala benefitting Radio City Music Hall in 1999.

Ron Galella/Getty Images

Mary J. Blige performs in Chicago wearing plaid Bermuda shorts and a men’s button-up. Here, she’s more tomboy than glam.

Raymond Boyd

Mary J. Blige performs onstage in Chicago in 2000 wearing a disco-inspired silver sequin getup that shows off her amazing body.

Paul Natkin

Mary J. Blige attended the Fall 2014 New York Fashion Week shows wearing an enormous and elaborate fur coat and heels.

D Dipasupil/Getty Images

Mary J. Blige attends amfAR’s 22nd Cinema Against AIDS Gala in 2015 wearing a simple yet shimmery gown and jewels.

Getty Images

Mary J. Blige attends the 2017 Pre-Grammy Gala wearing a draped gold mini dress, strappy heels, and matching accessories as well.

Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Mary J. Blige attends the 2017 Vanity Fair Oscar Party wearing a bedazzled cutout gown that accentuates her figure flawlessly.

John Shearer/Getty Images

Mary J Blige attending the Premiere of Mudbound as part of the BFI London Film Festival, at The Odeon Leicester Square, London. (Photo by Ian West/PA Images via Getty Images)

Ian West – PA Images

Mary J. Blige at PORTER Hosts Incredible Women Gala In Association With Estee Lauder at NeueHouse Los Angeles on November 1, 2017 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Donato Sardella/Getty Images for PORTER Magazine)

Donato Sardella

Mary J. Blige attends HSA Masquerade Ball on October 23, 2017 at The Plaza Hotel in New York City. (Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images for Harlem School of the Arts )

Dia Dipasupil

Mary J. Blige attends the 21st Annual Hollywood Film Awards – Arrivals on November 5, 2017 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by David Crotty/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)

David Crotty
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Related: Carrie Mae Weems Reflects on Her Seminal, Enduring “Kitchen Table Series”

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