User:C Babyfresh/gap analysis

Gap analysis

 * What is the title of the article in which you identified a gap. If no article exists at all, what should the title be?

Carrie Mae Weems
 * Document the gap you found, describe how you identified it, and analyze its impact on knowledge.

I decided to do the Wikipedia Gap Analysis assignment on the same person I did my visual paper analysis on: Carrie Mae Weems. I searched Weems’ name through Wikipedia to view her page (or her lack of a page). As the page does detail some of Weems’ aesthetics and works, it doesn’t mention any political or personal ties to the feminist movement or any movement at all. Her work stems from her personal experiences as a woman of color, and how her art can be viewed through a feminist lens. The types of feminisms that can be connected to Carrie Mae Weems are black, womanist, and multiracial feminisms. This gap is evident in that there is no mention of the word “feminism” or any variants like “feminist,” “pro-equality” on Weems’ Wikipedia page. The art piece I did the visual analysis paper on was “Colored People,” which is a photograph series. The series consists of pictures taken by Weems herself that have black children as the subject in each photo. The children range in age but are supposed to be a part of the same socioeconomic class, according to Weems herself. The photos are overlaid with monochromatic colors such as magenta, blue, red, and yellow. This overlay of color is supposed to poke fun at the labeling of “shades of blackness” and how internalized racism is problematic. There is mention of how Weems’ work centers on internalized racism, “gender relations, politics, and personal identity,” but this can be further explained in relation to how this uses feminism to aestheticize her work. To cover the gap, I will add in a paragraph that brings “Colored People” into discussion and how Weems’ art is feminist. This paragraph will be added in under the section Career and work and after the paragraph that starts with "Other series created by Weems include:..." and before the paragraph that starts with "In her almost 30-year career, Carrie Mae Weems has won numerous awards..."


 * Propose a paragraph of new or substantially edited content based on reliable sources. (If you are editing existing content, post the current version along with your edited version, and clearly mark which is which.)

Carrie Mae Weems’ work has ties to the feminist movement. Her work primarily focuses on the disposition of black people in American society throughout the decades she’s been active. Her photograph series documents people of color and it exemplifies the struggles and oppression black people face within the race and outside of it. Weems’ art can be connected to black feminism, womanist feminism, standpoint feminism, and multiracial feminism. One series created by Weems includes photographs of African-American children who vary slightly in age, are of different genders, and are a part of the same socioeconomic status or class. This photograph series is titles Colored People (1989-1990). Each photo is overlaid with a monochromatic color of magenta, yellow, blue or red. These colors represent the “shades of blackness” that people assign themselves and others. Colored People illustrates how Weems’ work stems from internalized racism, and how she provokes thought and elicits emotion that can  be used to change how people of color and those who are oppressed are viewed through multiple feminist lenses: “For more black folks to identify with art, we must shift conventional ways of thinking about the function of art. There must be a revolution in the way we see, the way we look.”


 * List the reliable sources that could be used to improve this gap. (You can use the Cite tool from the editing toolbar above to input and format your sources.)