Kara Walker
I remember seeing some of Walker’s work at my local museum in my hometown. That was years ago when I was in middle school and at the time I did not fully grasp the scope of her work, but it still left me speechless and unsettled. Years later, her work still leaves me speechless and unsettled, but this time with a sense of understanding.
I relate to Walker’s work on an aesthetic level and on a content/ subject level. Walker uses history and imagery to portray a message. I connect with her over how she sees connections between the past and the present, and I am intrigued by her ability to create a visual representation of that connection. More importantly, she is able to capture the duality of the South. She captures the beauty of the Antebellum South with the Gone with the Wind elements that conjures, the beauty of a bygone era; and yet, she manages to also encompass the ugly reality of its existence. She takes both these identities and blends them into something indistinguishable from each other. The use of black and white silhouettes simplifies the image and allows the viewer to focus entirely on the meaning of the work and its complexities. It allows for something deeper to slip into the mind and under the skin. She uses not only her art, but projectors in some of her work to literally allow the viewer to become a part of the scene, they are drawn into history.
Her art is good art because it makes the viewer question and feel on multiple levels. You could look at her art and find something new and interesting each time, and it tells a story. It tells a story with a satirical tone with the lovely Gone with the Wind image first, and then something off catches to viewers eye and they sink deeper into the South’s complexities. It is grossly beautiful with a raw and refined edge.
https://art21.org/artist/kara-walker/
https://www.artsy.net/artist/kara-walker
