Wex Moments 2018: Carrie Mae Weems

During a recent appearance on WOSU-FM's All Sides Weekend, artist and professor Michael Mercil joined outgoing Wex Director Sherri Geldin to discuss her tenure at the center. When asked about his personal experience with the center, Mercil brought up his involvement with the Visiting Artists program run by Ohio State's Department of Art and a recent example of what goes into the longtime partnership between the program and the Wex.

On April 5, legendary artist Carrie Mae Weems came to Columbus for an afternoon lecture co-sponsored by the Visiting Artist Program, Mercil's Living Culture Initiative, and Ohio State’s Humanities and Arts Discovery Theme pilot project Contemporary Art and Its Publics. The Wex was to host the program in our nearly 300-seat Film/Video Theater, but as the start time grew closer, it became clear that Weems had attracted a far larger audience than expected. With support from the Wex's crack tech team and some patience from the audience, the talk was moved at the last minute to the much roomier Mershon Auditorium.

The artist was beaming when she took the stage and proceeded from there to hold the room in thrall. Part process discussion, part history lesson, and ultimately a call to action, Weems's monologue was truly inspiring. We're grateful for partners who help present events like this and happy to re-share the audio of her talk here for anyone who missed it.