Photography

Carrie Mae Weems Takes Intimate Photographs of A$AP Rocky and His Sons

The artist is known for her Kitchen Table Series as well as Family Pictures and Stories, a rebuke to negative stereotypes about the African American family.

Article by Hannah Tattersall

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“Portraits of Fatherhood” is a new photography series by Carrie Mae Weems with A$AP Rocky, for Bottega Veneta. Photography courtesy of the artist and Bottega Veneta.

To announce American rapper A$AP Rocky as Bottega Veneta’s latest brand ambassador, a new photography series by acclaimed photographer Carrie Mae Weems has been released.

“Portraits of Fatherhood”, with A$AP Rocky, commissioned by creative director Matthieu Blazy is a series of six images, released on Father’s Day in the US, that shows A$AP Rocky in a home setting with his two young sons, RZA and Riot Rose.

The tender photographs show the rapper “embodying and embracing fatherhood, parenthood, companionship, and family, while still working on all aspects of my career”, he said.

Weems’ iconic Kitchen Table Series, as well as her first solo exhibition, Family Pictures and Stories (1981-1982), was a rebuke to negative stereotypes and messaging around the African American family. With these photographs of A$AP Rocky, she says she wanted to show an honest representation of the Black family.

An untitled 1990 photo taken by Carrie Mae Weems. Photograph courtesy Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times.
Carrie Mae Weems in 2021. Photography courtesy Flo Ngala/The New York Times.

Weems answered some extra questions for T Australia about the collaboration:

T Australia: You’re perhaps best known for your Kitchen Table Series which, even though it was fictionalised, is not too dissimilar to these photographs which show great intimacy. How did you approach this work and what did you set out to achieve?

Weems: “We had lovely conversations together that really inspired my entire approach to making the piece. It was absolutely important to have these conversations, guiding the process. There were certain things Rocky wanted to do and see. Part of my responsibility was to listen, to articulate my vision through his, in that collaborative spirit. I think together we really did make something wonderful.

“There are still very few images of Black men with their children, certainly in the commercial and fashion space. I think what Rocky is attempting to do, to use his platform and stage, to use this relationship with Bottega Veneta, is very important. If there is something to be said, he is figuring out dynamic ways to say it and to be a part of that statement. It is quite remarkable and unique.”

T Australia: Art and luxury collaborations are becoming de rigeur – have you worked on commissions for brands before? How did the collaboration with Bottega Veneta come about?

Weems: “I learned that Matthieu [Blazy] had been studying me in school, which was surprising and lovely. We had this wonderful talk about directness, authenticity, and lack of flash, and that for Rocky himself, there was something about the Kitchen Table Series that drew him, and something about his ideas about becoming a father and a husband that mattered. In light of losing my own father, and in light of the importance of what he was trying to do as a person, a father, a parent, I knew I wanted to involve myself.”

One of the photographs from Carrie Mae Weems's Portraits of Fatherhood series. Photography courtesy of the artist and Bottega Veneta.
One of the photographs from Carrie Mae Weems's Portraits of Fatherhood series. Photography courtesy of the artist and Bottega Veneta.

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How to Capture Australia’s Rugged Country and Mountains

Eugene Tan is the iconic Bondi-based photographer behind the lens of popular Instagram account, Aquabumps. In his latest photography series, he shares his impressions of Broken Hill.

Article by Eugene Tan

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The Line of Lode Miner's Memorial in Broken Hill. Photography by Eugene Tan of Aquabumps.The Line of Lode Miner's Memorial in Broken Hill. Photography by Eugene Tan of Aquabumps.

We had three days and we made the most of the short time we were on the ground. We visited Silverton where Mad Max was shot – I am a big fan of that movie. I definitely recommend visiting the Mad Max Museum while you’re there. Have a beer at The Original Silverton Hotel – you’re pretty sure to see a donkey while you sit on the verandah. You can get a good coffee at the Silly Goat Café and be sure to check out the Mundi Mundi Plains lookout to embrace the outback of Australia. The Living Desert and Sculptures is where to spend sunset.

Photography by Eugene Tan of Aquabumps.

I love the mining history of Broken Hill. Shooting some of the old mining factories from 1885 where they mined silver, lead and zinc was unique for me – with not a person in sight. There’s land as far as the eye can see; flat, dry land. The days were clear and blue – I thought it must never rain but then a few days after we left they got 140mm in one afternoon.

Walking the streets of Broken Hill and neighbouring town of Silverton is like stepping back in time. Donkeys, emus, horses, goats roam the streets of Silverton – pretty unique. There are a lot of outback artists and galleries – I liked checking these out, following the steps of the great Pro Hart who lived in Broken Hill for 77 years.

An old mine in Broken Hill. Photography by Eugene Tan of Aquabumps.
The Line of Lode Miner's Memorial in Broken Hill. Photography by Eugene Tan of Aquabumps.

The dirt is red, the sky is blue and trees only grow on the creek line so it was an interesting landscape for me to shoot – big open spaces, a stark contrast from the thousands of people on Bondi Beach I usually shoot.

It’s all about the light for me – the natural light, so the sunrise and the sunset. I still made the most of these times of day to shoot and loved the diversity of Broken Hill. The desert sculptures was a highlight and experiencing somewhere that feel intrinsically Australian was nice to shoot for a change.

Broken Hill. Photography by Eugene Tan of Aquabumps.

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How to Capture Tasmania’s Spectacular Columned Cliffs

Photographer Pete Harmsen hikes to Cape Raoul, the least-known of Tasmania’s famed Three Capes

Article by Christa Larwood

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Three Capes of Tasmania walking trail is a seven-kilometre walk, from the waving gums to fern-thick temperate rainforest. (Photography by Pete Harmsen)

Dried gum leaves crunch underfoot as I make my way through a forest of rustling eucalypts. My guide, photographer Pete Harmsen, leads the way, his camera swinging on its strap with each step. At the top of the hill, he beckons me forward to where the land drops away, revealing a knee-weakening view of Tasmania’s soaring southern coast – sheer cliffs of green-tufted grey and gold stretching far into the distance.

(Photography by Pete Harmsen)

This is Cape Raoul, one of the Three Capes of Tasmania’s famous walking trail, yet compared to its eastern cousins, Capes Pillar and Hauy, this remarkable peninsula receives a fraction of the visitors. “It’s becoming better known now, but it’s still possible to have it all to yourself,” Pete says, lifting his camera to take a shot.
As a photographer, Pete relishes the variety in this seven-kilometre walk, from the waving gums to fern-thick temperate rainforest, a broad plateau where sun-bleached trees lean flat to the ground, and of course, our destination – the very point of Cape Raoul, where towering columns of dolerite thrust up from the water like colossal, rust-tipped spears.

(Photography by Pete Harmsen)
(Photography by Pete Harmsen)

Here, we are surrounded on three sides by the Southern Ocean, and stand to watch the clouds scudding and roiling on the horizon, throwing a patchwork of shadows onto the water below. “That’s Storm Bay,” Pete says, gesturing towards the east, “and it’s a good name – you get a lot of wild weather in this part of the world, and you see it all from up here. It’s never the same view from one moment to the next.”

As if it has heard him, the wind grows suddenly stronger and the clouds draw in. Turning reluctantly from the view, we make our way back under a leadening sky, leaving Cape Raoul to the wild winds and surf it has stood fast against for millennia.

(Photography by Pete Harmsen)

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