RESIST COVID TAKE 6!
A social impact project by Carrie Mae Weems, presented in Philadelphia by University of the Arts
Conceived by Carrie Mae Weems and Pierre Loving, Resist Covid Take 6! aims to create an artist-driven public awareness campaign to educate and enlighten Black, Latinx and Native American communities about the impact of COVID-19 on their lives. This awareness campaign will use creative measures and projects to emphasize preventative steps that must be taken to ensure these community members’ safety and reinforce the absolute necessity of social distancing.
UArts is the exclusive presenter of Weems’ project in Philadelphia, where billboards, creative messaging and public art will be installed around Center City to highlight the virus’ staggering death toll. Phase 1 of the project at UArts is generously supported by the Jessica Hamilton Hardy Visiting Artist Fund.
University of the Arts is actively seeking Philadelphia-area partners to expand the scope of Resist Covid Take 6! in Phase 2. To learn more about partnership opportunities, contact Shelton Walker, chief of staff and associate VP for strategic initiatives, at shwalker@uarts.edu.
UArts is offering a free lesson plan about this project. Learn more, and get the plan.
RESIST COVID TAKE 6!—which alludes to recommendations that people stay six feet apart— is a project developed by renowned artist Carrie Mae Weems and presented by University of the Arts in Philadelphia, to draw attention to how the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately hurts Black, Latinx and Native American communities.
PHASE I – Public art installation presented by UArts
PHASE II – Project expansion throughout Philadelphia
Meet Carrie Mae Weems
Widely renowned as one of the most influential living artists in the U.S., Carrie Mae Weems examines how our society structures power through deeply embedded stories, images and ideas. Among many other honors, Weems is a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship (also known as the “genius” grant) and was the first Black woman to have a retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. In addition, Weems has exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Gallery of Art, Tate Modern, Walker Art Center, Whitney Museum of American Art and many other institutions. She is also the recipient of the BET Honors Visual Artist Award, the Prix de Rome, the Frida Kahlo Award for Innovative Creativity, the International Center for Photography Spotlight Award, the Louis Comfort Tiffany Award, the Lucie Award for Fine Art Photography and the W.E.B. Du Bois Medal.
This month, renowned artist Carrie Mae Weems brings her public art project, Resist Covid Take 6!, to University of the Arts and the city of Philadelphia. The project highlights how the coronavirus pandemic has disproportionately harmed Black, Latinx and Native American communities. As the exclusive presenters of this project in Philadelphia, UArts brings Weems’ work to the city through a combination of billboards, creative messages, public art projects and more. Resist Covid Take 6! at University of the Arts is generously supported by the Jessica Hamilton Hardy Visiting Artist Fund.
The goal of Resist Covid Take 6 is to create an artist-driven public awareness campaign to educate and enlighten Black, Brown, and Native American communities on the impact of this deadly virus on their lives.
