'Weaving Liberation'
Artist Carrie Mae Weems to Headline Ohio Wesleyan's 2027 Melvin Van Peebles Symposium
DELAWARE, Ohio – Art critics have described Carrie Mae Weems as "one of the most honored American artists of her generation," "a singularly eloquent witness to the shifting landscape of race and representation," and "a 21st-century oracle."
In April, Weems will take the stage at Ohio Wesleyan University, presenting the keynote address at OWU's third Melvin Van Peebles Symposium, themed "Weaving Liberation: A Celebration of Spirit, Sensation, and Creative Power." Ohio Wesleyan launched the biennial symposium in 2023 to recognize the enduring impact of Van Peebles, a 1953 OWU graduate and trailblazing innovator in film, theater, music, art, literature, and business.
A 'Vanguard' Voice
Andrew Wilson, MFA, a 2013 OWU graduate and emerging artist and designer, invited Weems to headline the 2027 Van Peebles Symposium.
"I first met Carrie Mae Weems as an inaugural participant in the Carr Center's Independent Scholars Program in 2018," Wilson said. "Carrie's work and creative inquiry examine power, who has it, who doesn't, how one comes to it, and the impact of asking challenging and important questions. She has stood firm as an artist, mentor, educator, and cultural producer as a vanguard and trailblazer, coaxing the next generation of artists, creatives, and cultural producers to move toward freedom and make way for those who come after us."
In her art, Weems investigates history, identity, and power to find connections between personal experience and the larger structures and institutions that shape people's lives. Over the course of 40 years, she has built an acclaimed body of work using photographs, text, fabric, audio, digital images, installation, and video. Some of her most influential work includes her "Kitchen Table Series," "And 22 Million Very Tired and Very Angry People," and "From Here I Saw What Happened and I Cried."
"I want Carrie to be part of the Melvin Van Peebles Symposium," Wilson said, "because I think it is necessary for folks to see that we are standing on a legacy of freedom fighters and trailblazers. She affirms that we will see the other side of midnight, we will weather the storm, and we will find joy, love, and dance our way to freedom, whatever may come."
A Keynote and Conversation
Following her keynote address, Weems will sit down for questions and conversation with Wilson and Ricky Weaver, MFA, an image-based artist and assistant professor at the University of Michigan's Stamps College of Art and Design. Weaver also met Weems and Wilson at the Carr Center and has collaborated with Wilson on projects in Cuba, Michigan, Texas, and the District of Columbia. They also have built the Fish Fry Collective, an artist-led group rooted in African American cultural traditions of the Midwest.
Weaver will exhibit photographs at Ohio Wesleyan's Richard M. Ross Art Museum during the symposium. The images explore the complexities of the Black experience in America, including issues of surveillance and social justice.
A Call for Presentations
Ohio Wesleyan is accepting presentation proposals now through Nov. 15 for the spring symposium, which will be held from April 1-4 on the university's Delaware, Ohio, campus. The event will include ticketed sessions, as well as free events open to the community.
Still in the planning stages, the symposium is expected to include academic presentations, roundtable discussions, screenings and performances, an art exhibition and artist talk, as well as Weems' keynote address.
For more information or to submit a presentation proposal, visit owu.edu/VanPeebles.
A Powerful Thread
The symposium's "Weaving Liberation" theme explores "how embodied and inspirited Black arts and expressive traditions function as pathways to freedom, transcendence, and self-knowledge," organizers say.
"The symposium honors art's capacity to store and transmit embodied knowledge across time," they explain. "It honors the breadth of what art can be and critiques narrow ways of understanding that devalue the meaning in everyday items like clothing and accessories. It questions what the acts of self-determination and space-taking inherent in styling one's body and raising one's voice can do against the tide of a world that insists on smallness."
Co-chairs of the upcoming Van Peebles Symposium are Ohio Wesleyan faculty, staff, and students Dawn Chisebe; Phokeng Dailey, Ph.D.; BC Granger, Ph.D.; and Andrew Inamdar, OWU Class of 2027.
Symposium Tickets
- General admission – $155 per person ($175 after March 1.)
- Ohio Wesleyan alumni, faculty and staff, and all non-OWU graduate and undergraduate students – $115 per person ($135 after March 1.)
- Current Ohio Wesleyan students – $25 per person. (OWU students volunteering to work at the symposium will be admitted free.)
- VIP meet-and-greet with Carrie Mae Weems – $75 per person, available only with symposium ticket purchase. (This hour-long reception will precede the closing banquet. Limited VIP tickets are available.)
To learn more about the 2027 Melvin Van Peebles Symposium, submit presentation proposals, or purchase tickets, visit owu.edu/VanPeebles.
Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation's premier liberal arts universities. Located in Delaware, Ohio, the private university offers more than 70 undergraduate majors and competes in 24 NCAA Division III varsity sports. Through its signature experience, the OWU Connection, Ohio Wesleyan teaches students to understand issues from multiple academic perspectives, volunteer in service to others, build a diverse and global perspective, and translate classroom knowledge into real-world experience through internships, research, and other hands-on learning. Ohio Wesleyan is featured in the book "Colleges That Change Lives" and included on the U.S. News & World Report and Princeton Review "Best Colleges" lists. Connect with OWU expert interview sources at owu.edu/experts or learn more at owu.edu.