For her notably personal project My Mother and Eye, Carmen Winant assembled hundreds of stills from films that the artist and her mother each made as teenagers driving across the US. In 1969, Winant’s mother traveled far from her family home for the first time, documenting her trip from Los Angeles to Niagara Falls on Super 8 film. In 2001, with a 35mm camera in hand, Winant chronicled her own reverse journey from Philadelphia to Los Angeles. Each of the 11 compositions shows a different exploration of recognizable landmarks, interwoven narratives, and the horizon line. The resulting montages collapse the two journeys across time and landscapes, unfolding individual experiences of newfound freedom, buoyancy, and the power of self representation. On JCDecaux bus shelters, the exhibition connects to the movement of daily transit, inviting riders and passersby to imagine their own stories of travel, transformation, and connection.
Carmen Winant: My Mother and Eye is curated by Public Art Fund Senior Curator Melanie Kress.
About the Artist
Carmen Winant (b. 1983, San Francisco, California) collects photographs from books, magazines, and pamphlets in the archives of women’s health clinics, education centers, and various intentional communities. When accumulated and assembled in large installations by the hundreds or even thousands, these photographs reflect back to us the ways we tell stories; pass down information; and express the value of different bodies, work, and practices through images.
Winant grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and since 2014, has resided in Columbus, Ohio, where she is the Roy Lichtenstein Chair of Studio Art for Ohio State University.
Winant has exhibited her work widely, including in recent solo exhibitions at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN (2023); The Dayton Contemporary, Dayton, OH (2023); Gävle Konstcentrum, Gävle, Sweden (2022); and The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA (2022). Her practice has been featured in notable group exhibitions, including Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better Than the Real Thing, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (2024); Her Voice – Echoes of Chantal Akerman, FOMU, Antwerp, Belgium (2023); To Begin Again, ICA Boston, MA (2022-2023); Witch Hunt, Kunsthal Charlottenborg (2021); Being: New Photography, Museum of Modern Art in New York, NY (2018); and In Practice, SculptureCenter, Long Island City, NY (2018).
Winant holds an MFA from California College of the Arts. San Francisco, CA; MA in Visual and Critical Studies. California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA; and BA in Fine Art and Museum Studies, University of California, Los Angeles, CA. Winant was a 2019 Guggenheim Fellow in photography and her work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA; Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City, Mexico; The Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN; Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL; and KADIST Collection, San Francisco, CA. Winant is a regular contributor to Frieze magazine and is an essential voice in conversations about photography today.
Para su muy personal proyecto My Mother and Eye [Mi madre y yoojo], Carmen Winant reunió cientos de fotogramas de películas que tanto la artista como su madre grabaron cuando eran adolescentes mientras viajaban por Estados Unidos. En 1969, la madre de Winant viajó por primera vez desde su casa en Los Ángeles documentando en película Super 8 su recorrido hasta las cataratas del Niágara. En 2001, con una cámara de 35 mm en la mano, Winant hizo una crónica de su propio viaje en sentido opuesto, desde Filadelfia hasta Los Ángeles. Cada una de las 11 composiciones muestra exploraciones distintas de lugares reconocibles, narrativas que se entretejen, y la línea del horizonte. Los montajes resultantes fusionan los dos trayectos a través del tiempo y de los paisajes, y despliegan experiencias individuales de libertad recién descubierta, optimismo y el poder de la autorrepresentación. En las paradas de autobús de JCDecaux, la exposición se conecta con el movimiento del transporte cotidiano, invitando a los pasajeros y transeúntes a imaginar sus propias historias de viaje, transformación y conexión.
Carmen Winant: My Mother and Eye está curada por Melanie Kress, Curadora de Public Art Fund.
Acerca de la artista
Carmen Winant (1983, San Francisco, California) recopila fotografías de libros, revistas y folletos de los archivos de clínicas de salud para mujeres, centros educativos y varias comunidades intencionales. Cuando se acumulan y se colocan juntas en grandes instalaciones de cientos o incluso miles, estas fotografías nos muestran, como un reflejo, las formas en que contamos historias, transmitimos información y expresamos el valor de diferentes cuerpos, trabajos y prácticas a través de imágenes.
Winant creció en Filadelfia, Pensilvania, y desde 2014 reside en Columbus, Ohio, donde ocupa la Cátedra Roy Lichtenstein of Studio Art de la Ohio State University.
El trabajo de Winant ha sido ampliamente exhibido, incluyendo exposiciones individuales en el Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN (2023); The Dayton Contemporary, Dayton, OH (2023); Gävle Konstcentrum, Gävle, Suecia (2022); y The Print Center, Filadelfia, PA (2022). Su obra ha aparecido en importantes exposiciones colectivas, entre ellas Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better Than the Real Thing, Whitney Museum of American Art, Nueva York, NY (2024); Her Voice – Echoes of Chantal Akerman, FOMU, Amberes, Bélgica (2023); To Begin Again, ICA Boston, MA (2022-2023); Witch Hunt, Kunsthal Charlottenborg (2021); Being: New Photography, Museum of Modern Art, NY (2018); y In Practice, SculptureCenter, Long Island City, NY (2018).
Winant tiene una maestría en Bellas Artes del California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA; una maestría en Estudios Visuales y Críticos del California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA; y una licenciatura en Bellas Artes y Estudios de Museos de University of California, Los Ángeles, CA. Winant fue becaria Guggenheim en fotografía en 2019, y su obra se encuentra en las colecciones del Museum of Modern, NY; Museum of Contemrporary Art, Los Ángeles, CA; Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo, Ciudad de México, México; The Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN; Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL; y KADIST Collection, San Francisco, CA. Winant colabora habitualmente con la revista Frieze y es una voz esencial en las conversaciones sobre fotografía contemporánea.
Bloomberg Philanthropies is the Presenting Sponsor of Carmen Winant: My Mother and Eye.
Special thanks to JCDecaux.
Public Art Fund is supported by the generosity of individuals, corporations, and private foundations including lead support from Bloomberg Philanthropies, along with major support from Abrams Foundation, the Charina Endowment Fund, The Cowles Charitable Trust, the Joseph and Joan Cullman Foundation for the Arts, The Fuhrman Family Foundation, Agnes Gund, The Marc Haas Foundation, Hartfield Foundation, William Talbott Hillman Foundation- Affirmation Arts Fund, The KHR McNeely Family Fund | Kevin, Rosemary, and Hannah Rose McNeely, the Donald A. Pels Charitable Trust, Red Crane Foundation, the Meyer and Deanne Sharlin Foundation, and The Silverweed Foundation.
Public Art Fund exhibitions and programs are also supported in part with public funds from government agencies, including the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
