Monday, October 5, 2009


KARA WALKER

If you haven't yet discovered Kara Walker, do. Now.

I've seen her work at the MET and at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. To say that you'll never forget it is a major understatement. Although haunting, grotesque and deeply disturbing, you may find that's it's nearly impossible to look away.

For obvious reasons, it's hard for me to separate what I see in her work from the feeling I got when I read Toni Morrison's Beloved. Walker's paper-cut figures depict scenes from slavery–images that delve way deeper than what most of us were taught in grade school. The stylized, stark black silhouettes beckon you into the image, asking you to ask more.

Her work begs us to look into the mirror of American history and identity, and makes it impossible to forget the eras that we might be most ashamed of.

"I think the really the whole problem with racism and its continuing legacy in this county is that we simply love it. Who would we be without the 'struggle'?"
–Kara Walker

See and read more here.

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