KARA WALKER
I am what most people call "a quite logical and practical" person rather than a creative or insightful person. Thus, I have never been someone who has been too passionate about artwork. I never had that deep appreciation for, or understanding of, the arts as some people are fortunate enough to have. However, as I was browsing through women artists on google, one woman artist, in particular, caught my attention. The artist's name is Kara Walker. Kara Walker is an African American artist who was born on November 26, 1969. She is most known for her silhouette artwork that expresses issues with race, gender, and violence, putting emphasis on the era of slavery and all the hardships and underlying issues that came along with it. She displays our problematic history of pre-Civil War America through her very expressive artwork, as you can see below. She explores issues within slavery such as objectifying and sexualizing black women and how the black woman almost literally "carried the burden of the white woman". In other words, Kara Walker expresses the stereotypes and restrictions imposed upon black women, specifically during the time of slavery and the forced roles that they played in society. Her artwork gives viewers a dive into History; giving the hardcore, uncensored, upsetting, yet truthful information about the lives of many people during the era of slavery. Kara Walker made it her mission to let viewers engage themselves in her artwork and learn something from it. In order to do so, she would paste black and white pieces of paper, in collage format directly on to gallery walls, creating her unique silhouetted artwork and then using bright lights to cast shadows of the viewers. This way, viewers feel more engaged in the artwork and feel a deeper, more personal connection or empathy with the artwork. Quite clever, if you ask me.
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| Resurrection Story Without Patrons 2017 |
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| The Emancipation Approximation: Scene #18 1990-2000 |
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