Sarah’s Psalm

Untitled 1990, the Carrie Mae Weems photograph which graces the cover of ‘Sarah’ Psalm’, is actually part of a sort of diptych. The other part depicts the back of the head. Both parts were reproduced on the front and back covers of ‘A Portrait is Not a Likeness’, issue 29 of ‘Archive’; the house publication for The Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, Arizona. This catalog (the title is from a quote by Richard Avedon) explores recent and alternative approaches to the portrait and self-portrait, taken from CCP’s collection. Weems’ approach can certainly be considered ‘alternative’; both photographs are embedded in resin, in the centers of ornate ceramic plates. CCP director Terrence Pitts mentions Weems’ diptych in the catalogs introduction: Another work that maintains a defiant attitude toward portraiture is Carrie Mae Weems’ two-part self-portrait “one a frontal view of her face and the other a view of the back of her head” suggesting that the front of a head is no more informative than the back. Someone should have informed Pitts that the piece is not self-portraiture, and the woman in the photographs is not the artist.