> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://hyperallergic.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Carrie Mae Weems’s Visual Response to Sam Cooke's “A Change Is Gonna Come” - URL: https://hyperallergic.com/carrie-mae-weems-sam-cooke-a-change-is-gonna-come/ - Published: 2021-09-27T20:35:00.000Z - Updated: 2025-11-24T15:50:58.000Z - Description: Weems’s essay is excerpted from Ways of Hearing: Reflections on Music in 26 Pieces. - Author: Carrie Mae Weems - Tags: Books, Carrie Mae Weems, Book Excerpt, Photography, Princeton University Press, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 09:11 (2021, 2022, part 1) *The below photo essay, a visual response to* [*Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come,"* ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEBlaMOmKV4&ref=hyperallergic.com)*is excerpted from* [Ways of Hearing: Reflections on Music in 26 Pieces](https://bookshop.org/a/539/9780691204475?ref=hyperallergic.com), *edited by Scott Burnham, Marna Seltzer, and Dorothea von Moltke, and published by* [*Princeton University Press*](https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691204475/ways-of-hearing?ref=hyperallergic.com)*. The editors write in the introduction that Weems's essay "exhorts us to 'hear' in her images the lament that is also both a promise and a plea contained in the soul lyric by Sam Cooke: 'It’s been so long, it’s been so long, a little too long / A change has gotta come.'"* \*\*\* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/09/weems-essay-b-w.jpg) (© Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/09/weems-essay2.jpg) (© Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/09/weems-essay-b-w4.jpg) (© Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/09/weems-essay-b-w5.jpg) (© Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/09/weems-essay-b-w6.jpg) (© Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/09/weems-essay-b-w7.jpg) (© Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/09/weems-essay-b-w8.jpg) (© Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/09/weems-essay-b-w9.jpg) (© Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/09/weems-essay-b-w-10.jpg) (© Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/09/weems-essay-b-w-11.jpg) (© Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/09/weems-essay-b-w12.jpg) (© Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/09/weems-essay-b-w-13.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/09/weems-essay-b-w-14.jpg) (© Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/09/weems-essay-b-w-15.jpg) (© Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/09/weems-essay-b-w-16.jpg) (© Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/09/weems-essay-b-w-17.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/09/weems-essay-b-w-18.jpg) (© Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/09/weems-essay-b-w-19.jpg) (© Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/09/weems-essay-b-w-20.jpg) (© Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/09/weems-essay-b-w-21.jpg) (© Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/09/weems-essay-b-w-22.jpg) (© Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/09/weems-essay-b-w-23.jpg) (© Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/09/weems-essay-b-w-24.jpg) (© Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/09/weems-essay-b-w-25.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/09/weems-essay-b-w-26.jpg) (© Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/09/weems-essay-b-w-27-.jpg) (© Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/09/weems-essay-b-w-28-.jpg) (© Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/09/weems-essay-b-w-29-.jpg) (© Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2021/09/weems-essay-b-w-30-.jpg) (© Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York) *Excerpt copyright © 2021 by Princeton University Concerts, reprinted with permission of Princeton University Press.*