A major exhibit of artist Kara Walker's work has just opened at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. It will move to the Whitney in New York later in the year and then to L.A.'s Hammer Museum next winter. Called "My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love," it reverberates with Walker's subjects of antebellum slavery, violence, and sexuality, frequently depicted with paper silhouettes.
Walker won the MacArthur Foundation 'genius' award in 1997, though not without controversy: one black folk artist led a campaign to get the Foundation to revoke the award, claiming Walker's work relies on negative stereotypes of blacks. The reality is more complicated: the artist plays with expectations, using a whole range of techniques -- including humor -- to examine race.
PBS has several short videos narrated by this invariably stimulating, extraordinary artist.
written on Monday Feb 26, 2007
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