Kara Walker

Born in the late 1960’s, Kara Walker was born into the decade that played a powerful part in the history of racism in America. Too young to understand the Black American war that she was involuntarily part of, Kara would certainly exhaust her childhood surroundings into her future talent.  She first, received a BFA from the Atlanta College of Art, in 1991, and then later upgraded to an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, in 1994. This was the same year that Kara Walker flounced into the world of artistic expression and gained an audience that was fascinated by her overtly raw work.

Well known for her panoramic, dramatic presentation of silhouettes, Walker uses the medium of large scale black paper cut-out characters and landscapes situated against  pale, white walls.  She is able to convert the agitating thoughts that linger inside her head into masterfully told pictorial stories about slavery, abuse, colonialism and feminism that took place in much more cruel time. The vanity of her work is magnified and the symbolic meaning is intensified, as the raw images she paints are timeless, similar to the simple black and white shades Walker applies to her overall pieces. Sexuality, race and gender are some of the constants that play into her work.

With exhibition titles such as My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love (2007), Testimony: Narrative of a Negress Burdened by Good Intentions (2004), Do You Like Creme in Your Coffee and Chocolate in Your Milk? (1997), Gone, An Historical Romance of a Civil War as It Occurred Between the Dusky Thighs of One Young Negress and Her Heart (1994), we see that the provocatively chosen titles themselves invite the audience to walk into another lifetime, into an inferno of someone else’s soul.

From paintings to shadow-puppets to light projections and video animations, Walker has revisited the history of racial supremacy to announce to the world that it has never, fully gone away. “Making artwork about race translates into intimate issues about identity” she says.

In 2007, Time Magazine listed Kara Walker as one of the 100 most influential People in the World of Artists and Entertainers. Her work powerfully shows the reality of the human experience leaving very little to the depths of illusion.

Although Kara Walker currently has no scheduled upcoming exhibitions, she has plugged out a series of books that showcase her evocative work  of art.

~ by deliciousnoize on April 14, 2009.