The Art of Kara Walker, Term Paper Example

Kara Walker, a controversial and bold artist born in Stockton, California in 1969. She is a widely recognized African American whose primary medium is that of silhouette images. One of her earlier influences was her father, who was also an artist; he was both a painter and a teacher. As a child, Walker knew that she wanted to be an artist like her father, and her first degree was a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts at the Atlanta College of Art in 1991. Her primary focus at this time was on painting and printing (aaregistry, n.d.). Later, Walker went on to get a Master’s in Fine Arts at Rhode Island School of Design in 1994 (aaregistry, n.d.). Kara Walker first began exhibiting in 1991 in Atlanta, GA, and she has reached international acclaim (Walker Art Center, 2015). She has shown her work in either exhibitions and in solo shows in Paris (1995), Boston (1996), New York (1995, 1996, 1997, and 1998), London (1998), Los Angeles (1999), Houston (1999), New York (1995, 1996, and 1998), Seattle (1997), San Francisco (1997), Chicago (1997), and other locations as well (Walker Art Center, 2015). In 1997, and at the young age of 27, Walker received a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation grant for her stunning and bold work. It was considered a “genius” grant, and ignited public controversy around her work (Walker Art Center, 2015). Currently, she lives in New York and is a faculty member in the MFA program at Columbia University.

Kara Walker is among the few artists who are willing to embrace issues such as race, gender, sexuality, and identity without reservation. Most of her work is comprised of silhouette images that seek to expose folkloric tales stemming from the Antebellum South (Dixon, 2002), especially in relationship to the role of gender and identity for African American women (Dixon, 2002). Walker’s use of silhouetted images hearken back to the late 18th and early 19th centuries and has undoubtedly been used by Walker to make a statement about the racial profiling that was so prevalent at that time (Walker Art Center, 2015). Interestingly, the paper that Walker uses to express her art is black – clearly indicating that she is trying to make a point. Adopting this medium has allowed Walker to explore “themes of exploitation, accommodation, and complicity on the part of both the powerful and the oppressed” (Walker Art Center, 2015).

Without question, Walker’s work can be described as horrifying and obscene, and has garnered a measure of dislike within the African American art community (Dixon, 2002). Nevertheless, her compelling and honest work has done an excellent job of depicting the white person’s view of African Americans during the time of slavery. Two of her most powerful pieces, Slavery! Slavery! and The Battle of Atlanta: Being the Narrative of a Negress in the Flames of Desire—A Reconstruction, deserve particular attention for their provocative assessment of racism in the Antebellum South (Dixon, 2002). In the image on the following page of Slavery! Slavery! (1997), Walker uses a 400-foot cyclorama representing the Civil War Conflict (Fremson, 1997). Her reasoning for using such a circular-type medium is to invite the viewer into the work, to experience it more fully. This type of display also allows for the interpretation that this is no true beginning or end to the story – still valid today (Fremson, 1997). As a whole, one can see Walker’s expression of distaste and revulsion for the white treatment of African Americans in this cyclorama. An African American child is held aloft by what can only be a slave owner, a negress is in chains, and yet another is confronted with a pile of feces. It is clear that Walker has a lot to say about the role African Americans have withstood as slaves.

Slavery! Slavery! by Kara Walker, 1997

In yet another piece by Kara Walker, The Battle of Atlanta, some of the most grotesque images clearly relay the message that Walker is sending. In this work (as seen below), a white Southerner is apparently raping an African American girl (noted by her exaggerated features) while her brother (supposedly) watches – apparently powerless to do anything about it. This is represented through Walker’s metaphorical use of the southern man’s foot inserted in the boy’s behind. In Walker’s own words, she shares this about creating The Battle of Atlanta.

All of the bad vibes, the bad feelings, all of the nastiness, and all of the sort of vulgar associations with blackness, and the more base associations in this culture about Black Americans or Africans bubble up to the surface of my brain and spill out into this work. Walker (n.d.)

Image Courtesy of Sikkema Jenkins & CO

The profound, bold, raw, controversial, and sometimes vulgar work of Kara Walker has touched the lives of many. While a seemingly demure woman in person, her pieces show that her passion to express the wrongdoings of others is without paramount. Walker’s use of the silhouetted images of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, as well as her use of only black cut-outs, is not lacking in allegory. Walker has something powerful to say about the treatment of African Americans, even today. This is particularly salient in relationship to gender and identity. Kara Walker is one of the most powerful and gutsy artists to grace the world of art, especially art that has a meaningful story to tell. It can be hoped that her important contribution to using art as social commentary, and as a way to enact change, will continue to move viewers for decades to come.

Works Cited

Aaregistry.org. Truth in Art by Kara Walker. n.d.. Web. 05 April 2015. <http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/truth-art-kara-walker>

Dixon, Annette. Kara Walker: “Pictures from Another Time.” University of Michigan Museum of Art. 2002.

Fremson, Ruth. “Black and White, but Never Simple.” The New York Times. 1997.  <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/12/arts/design/12walk.html?ref=karawalker>

Walker Art Center. “Representing Race.” A Companion to the Exhibition-Kara Walker: My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love. 2015.<http://learn.walkerart.org/karawalker/Main/RepresentingRace>

Walker Art Center. Welcome. 2015.<http://learn.walkerart.org>

Walker, Kara. MOMA, Online Projects, Conversations with Contemporary Art (referring to piece “The Battle of Atlanta”).