Untitled (Box Spring in Tree), from the series “Sea Islands”

Artist: Carrie Mae Weems, American, born 1953
Date: 1991
Material: Gelatin silver print
depicts: United States, North and Central America
Classification: Photographs
Collection: Prints, Drawings, and Photographs
Current Location: Not on view
Dimensions: image: 27 x 27 in. (68.6 x 68.6 cm)
sheet: 27 1/4 x 27 1/4 in. (69.2 x 69.2 cm)
Credit Line: Museum Minority Artists Purchase Fund
Rights: © Carrie Mae Weems
Object Number: 84:2002

NOTES

Walking in the Sea Islands off the coast of Georgia and South Carolina, the photographer Carrie Mae Weems came upon this bed spring and medicine bag. An islander probably placed the objects together to ensnare evil spirits in a practice based on African folklore. Descendants of Africans brought to the Sea Islands as victims of the slave trade still maintain aspects of West African customs and language.

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