Kara Walker is a contemporary
African-American artist known for creating life sized, black-and-white
silhouettes that depict themes of slavery, violence, and sexuality. Walker was
born in Stockton, California in 1969 and moved to Atlanta, Georgia at the age
of 13, where she began to experience forms of oppression, prejudice, and even
fear from white supremacy groups. She received a Master of Fine Arts degree in
painting and printmaking from Rhode Island School of Design. Her art is filled
with intense subject matter that explores the controversial social issues of
race, gender, and sexuality. Walker draws much of her inspiration from novels
including The Clansman and Gone With The Wind that represent Southern
culture during the American Civil War era. Due to her controversial work, The
Newark Public Library decided to cover up one of Walker’s drawings depicting a
black female slave giving oral sex to a white slave owner. Despite this
unfortunate event, Walker has earned several achievements; she is the youngest recipient
of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s “genius” grant, she has made
it to the prestigious “TIME 100” list in 2007, and in 2014, she also made a
massive sculpture for the Domino sugar factory using 30 tons of sugar.
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| Kara Walker, 2001 Courtesy Walker Art Center |
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| Kara Walker, 1995 Courtesy Walker Art Center
“I think really the whole problem with racism and its continuing legacy in this country is that we simply love it. Who would we be without the "struggle”?“–Kara Walker, United States
Kara Walker, Artist Statement (No Place (Like Home), 1997.
http://www.walkerart.org/collections/artists/kara-walker
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