Memory and Landscape in the Sea Islands Series by Carrie Mae Weems

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Rumi Hara
Savannah College of Art and Design

Abstract

In her Sea Islands series (1991–1992), photographer and visual artist Carrie Mae Weems visits the Georgia/Carolina coast in the United States, enacting and enlivening the African-American memory in the region. Combining photography, text, and ceramics, Weems creates an original hybrid language to depict the physical landscape and the history of the Sea Islands, where African people were once brought as slaves and later formed a unique Creole culture known as Gullah-Geechee. The concepts of home, land, and memory in the framework of African diaspora are explored through a vivid recounting of Gullah- Geechee folklore and the traumatic memory of slavery. The paper examines how Weems addresses the subject as both an insider and an outsider, questioning the mainstream American history and culture through African-American memory. It also highlights the significance of landscape in the expression and transmission of memory.

Keywords: Memory, Landscape, Photography, Slavery, African American, Folklore, Gullah-Geechee

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