Kara Walker Exhibition
Posted on October 14, 2007
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Eddie Skripochnik
Kara Walker Exhibition
Astonished, embarrassed, and helpless are only a few feelings that Kara Walker is able to intertwine with laughter. Her black silhouettes put on an overwhelmingly large area of strikingly white background are blunt and obnoxious. This could explain why her works are so memorable. It is not difficult to interpret
Walker’s intentions because her works have an “in-your-face” kind of style. The slave faces are obviously exaggerated; having lips and hair very indicative of stereotypical outlines. Kara Walker is not at all concerned with the retorts of insulted critics. She has only one concern: to make us remember.
Walking in and out of the rooms of the museum, her works seem like one single moving image. I stared at a point on the wall for several seconds, letting my mind wander, almost instantly I was in another realm. At that single moment when the eye focuses only on one point, I was able to see all of the figures in motion. The black figures continued in the routines that Kara Walker had depicted them in. The white male continues to have his way with one of his slaves, the little girl plays with the duck that she finally suffocated, the female slave is being lynched while her daughter pulls a sword out of her chest, and so on. The silhouettes were walking along the walls, room to room, with me, sharing their feelings. The white males were all shameless and nonchalant in their repulsive actions, making me the one to feel embarrassed and disgusted for them and for myself. Why should I feel embarrassed for myself in this case?
Walker’s frankness puts me to shame as I am the one witnessing these dishonorable acts. At the same time though, the man is so nonchalant that it turns into an awkward situation. He seems so serious and poised that he does not even fit in the scenario. His self-important manner made me laugh. I thought, “Wow this man really has no shame, he’s simply in his normal routine.”
The whole exhibition continues with these feelings that have a Velcro effect, patching onto your conscience, making every silhouette powerful with its own intentions.
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