ABSTRACT
In 1994, a young artist named Kara Walker stunned the art world with the introduction of her defi ning work: life-sized, panoramic silhouettes. Walker transformed the silhouette, a medium that has been around since the mid 17th century, with her subject choice. She quickly became a “star” with exhibitions such as “The High Sweet Laughter of Nigger Wenches at Night,” “Look Away! Look Away! Look Away!,” and “From the Bowels to the Bosom.” Other contemporary artists have used the silhouette, but Walker’s installations are distinct for several reasons. First, she chooses the stereotyped and exaggerated black body as the inspiration and focus of her art. She then creates narratives in which to immerse these images. Walker’s silhouettes feature gross black stereotypes such as the coon, jezebel, and black brute. These scenes depict repressed fantasies, grotesque notions, inappropriate activities, and beguiling ambiguities.
