A Little More than “Interest” by Finn Quigley
Posted on October 14, 2007
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I was rushing to the Whitney Museum because I had to meet my dad in an hour back downtown. My guitar broke earlier that morning, and all I could think about was poor Beatrix (my guitar) and if I would be able to fix her. I planned on a short visit, choosing a piece to write about and leaving. I raced into the museum, a huge medieval looking building that at first took me aback. Up the elevator two stories and I stepped out. I literally stopped in my tracks.
There it was, a huge mural, the likes of which I had never seen before. Black and white, as powerful as art can get. The silhouettes of humans and creatures and other things both horrifying and fascinating, were stretched out across a huge white wall, and that was just one piece of several within the exhibition. Something that caught my eye in the front piece was not the slaves, but the huge moon. It was large, mysterious, and beautiful. Haunting, almost, but it had an ethereal quality that lessened any nightmare imagery it might have created. Rather, it was a source of hope that the mural otherwise wouldn’t have. After seeing this, I immediately regretted my need to rush. I wanted to stay for hours to examine every piece of artwork that was there. However, time was short and I needed to look at as much as possible before I had to leave.
One piece that really caught my eye in the exhibition was “A Work on Progress”. This piece had two women in it. The one on the left was flying in the air, as if knocked back. She had broken manacles on her wrists. Her clothing was worn, with frays in the edges. She wore no shoes.
The woman on the right was sweeping, and the broom was swung towards the flying woman, creating the possible connection that she was sweeping the other woman away. The woman with the broom wore shoes, and had a key around her neck that had swung up with the force of her sweeping.
These two women look similar in terms of clothing and body shape and size. The fact that they are silhouettes erases any labeling of color, but by their ragged clothes, they seem to be slaves. So if they’re both slaves, why is one sweeping away the other? Why does one wear a key, while the other has broken chains?
I could stare at it for hours, and not understand the meaning behind this artwork. Yes, it is a clear representation of slavery. Chains and keys are common symbols of slavery and power, but I feel that there is more to it than just that. There is no happiness within Kara Walker’s artwork, only depravity and desolation. “A Work on Progress” and its siblings in the exhibit feature the very worst of slavery, and of humankind. That doesn’t completely reach me, though.
When I look at “A Work on Progress”, and all of Kara Walker’s other pieces of art, I’m not disgusted, or horrified, or angry. I am…interested. For all that her artwork represents vice instead of virtue, I find everything about it beautiful and inspiring. Her artwork makes me want to do artwork.
It feels perverted to say that amidst all those awful images. Despite all the depictions of race and gender inequality, every representation of the awful life of slavery, I am more aware of the complex beauty of it all. There are subtleties within Walker’s art that are more powerful to me than the obvious, bold statements in her work. The moon in the front piece is one example. While another might find it adds to the haunting imagery, I think it creates a more hopeful atmosphere. Another thing is the flying woman in “A Work on Progress”. There is a peaceful quality to her that belies any violence shown in the artwork.
These subtle features within Walker’s work create a certain power that inspires a new feeling, one besides the disgust and sadness a person might feel. That feeling doesn’t really have a name. The word “interested” would be too weak, and “enamored” would be too strong. Somewhere in between, then. Whatever the word may be, the feeling is still there, one of pleasant surprise and some sense of infatuation.
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