Dicks and degradation: the Kara Walker exhibit
Kara Walker’s exhibit represents suppression and the inequality of racial and gender roles through the use of sexual imagery. Nowhere is suppression and the inequality of power relationships more clearly evident than in the experience of sexuality and gender dynamics. One painting showed the muzzle of a gun emerging from a woman’s vagina and pointing at the face of a boy who was trying to board the woman’s raft in the middle of a river. This clearly illustrated a reversal of the typical power relationship, where a woman makes use of her sexual power to gain dominance over a male who is reduced to seeking the support of the female. In other parts of the exhibit, silhouettes depicted figures of whites abusing blacks and men abusing women and children, sexually and otherwise. Numerous penises were clearly in evidence, sexual organs exaggerated to arouse shocked interest and indicate the inherently sexual nature of the exhibit. Various movies showed puppets acting out roles of submission and mutilation. The use of puppets was particularly shocking, in that it utilized a medium known for playfulness, humor, and attractiveness to children, and turned the intentions of the medium against itself, shaping it into a vehicle for the expression of savage injustice. Altogether, I found the exhibit to be extremely effective in emotionally connecting its viewers to the terrifying spirit of oppression.