Kara Walker…
Kara Walker’s work was really strange to me. At first, I thought it was so interesting and so playful. I failed to see what was actually there however. What I thought to be simple cutouts of fun activities, such running around playing tag or something, were in fact some of the most graphic depictions of sex and death I have ever seen. These cutouts were contorted into images such as babies breaking there heads open on the ground, women being raped, and men getting blowjobs. I had to look at everything twice because I really couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I couldn’t believe that these images existed and that people were seeing them in a positive light; I had to get out of there. I went to the other exhibit that we needed to see and it was also very strange. I wasn’t sure what to make of it and it’s simplicity turned me off immediately. This is not to say I don’t appreciate what the artist was going for. Depicting the struggle of the black race in terms of American society in its basic forms really heighten my interest a great deal actually. Any time you want to focus on an issue, you must first see it for its basic roots. It made a lot of sense, but I don’t think it was executed well. Maybe if I had seen all the paintings in the series things would have been different, but I didn’t and it wasn’t my favorite piece of art. There was also something really unnerving about one of the paintings in particular. One of the paintings depicted a black figure working in a field with a dark jug on a lighter base. In the same painting was a white figure working in the same field but with a lighter jug on a darker base. The caption said something along the lines of, “The difference between the white and black worker.” I was so confused when I saw that and all I could do was stare. To trivialize the terrible slavery that took place in the united states like that made me angry. Sure immigrants, which I think the artist was talking about, were not treated fairly, but nothing they experienced was like the oppression the black community faced. It made me mad also because I knew the artist was black. It seemed like self-hate, which was so weird to me. I had to again get out of there. I went back to the Kara Walker exhibit and looked at her pieces once more. This time, having seen the other exhibit, I understood what she was going for. She wanted to examine the side of slavery that no one really wants to talk about, the side that has been labeled “taboo.” I looked at her pieces differently and tried to see the art within. While they made me extremely uncomfortable (i really don’t want to see cracked baby skulls…) I was more readily accepting of her work. I wanted to be, and I really tried, but I just couldn’t take all the terrible sights that befell my eyes. I didn’t like the shock value that Kara Walker obviously wanted her audience to experience somewhat and I couldn’t appreciate it for what it was. What I could appreciate was the idea behind the work. This examination of what slaves were forced to do and what they did was in many senses necessary in understanding slavery in general. She brought forth this sort of hatred of her own race for not fighting back which was completely different from the other exhibits brand of dislike. That painter just didn’t seemed ti like his race while Kara walker had a reason behind her feelings. She is mad and she wants that to come across. I feel she succeeded in her efforts, I just personally couldn’t look at some of the images she put forth.
December 11th, 2007 at 5:08 pm
I like your honesty about the piece. It’s very hard to see something you dislike or are uncomfortable with. I applaud you giving her work a second chance and finding SOMETHING to appreciate. You made a lot of insightful comments. I don’t remember the works looking playful and fun at first but think back, I can see you what mean. I also agree there was way TOO much shock value. I think some of her work you might appreciate is some of her watercolors that were in the back; they were less graphic and a little more positive.
One of them I think you’d appreciate is a drawing of a an elderly man hold a little girl, presumably his granddaughter, on his shoulders. She is looking through binoculars into the distance where there is a bright light. I really liked this painting because it shows we can attribute our present with our ancestors experience, we stand on their shoulders. It reminds me of the saying “If I can see a little further, it it because I am standing on the shoulders of giants.”