Kara Walker at the Whitney
Heading to the Whitney Museum, I was pretty excited. The Whitney always has really beautiful things to show. Little did I know, however, what was in store for me. Walking into the gallery entitled “Kara Walker: My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love,” I was still really excited. The walls were decorated with huge figures that took up the entire wall, and at first glance, it was really beautiful. So I stood there and looked at it for a while. That’s when I started to realize that this was not what I first thought it was. That was not a balloon, that was a penis. No, those two children aren’t just playing and having fun, they are giving and receiving oral sex from each other. My face immediately turned to shock and speculation, and listening to the audio, I could not stop myself from muttering “this is NOT Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”
I walked away and went to watch the video. That seemed safer. The paper puppets were cut out really well, and I was tickled by how cute it was when they were made to walk. I was even more delighted when a paper bunny and other paper animals came on screen. Hey look, they’re playing! Wait, no. What’s that? And that’s when I saw that the cute little animals were not simply playing – they were pulling on ropes and hanging blacks from the trees. They then proceeded to prance happily around the screen. The video then went on to show paper fellatio and paper rape, among other things that shocked and appalled me.
I was not happy leaving the exhibit. However, once I got over the shock of what I had seen, I started to realize that there were actually really amazing things portrayed in these appalling pieces. The artwork was truly amazing – it was all beautiful. Kara Walker was able to make beautiful artwork, shock, and show her interpretation of slavery and racism all at once. I can respect that.