Skip to content

Featured Artist: Kara Walker

  • by

by Danielle Lyons


Kara Walker
taps into raw unfiltered emotion in her body of work. Hers is work that demands to be felt not just seen. She uses paper silhouettes as a means to weigh in on issues of racism, violence, racial identity, sexuality and slavery. The unapologetic nature of her artwork is what makes it a great success.

Kara Walker was born in Stockton, California, on November 26, 1969. She was raised by a father who was a painter. By the age of three, she knew without a shadow of a doubt that she was meant to be an artist. Kara Walker’s mother tells the New Yorker “You know, as a child Kara drew first from paintings and photographs. When I told her it was good, she’d say, ‘Mom, anyone can do that.’ And I said, ‘No, they can’t.” As she grew she continued to explore art styles and techniques. In an interview with New York’s Museum of Modern Art she stated, “I guess there was a little bit of a slight rebellion, maybe a little bit of a renegade desire that made me realize at some point in my adolescence that I really liked pictures that told stories of things—genre paintings, historical paintings—the sort of derivatives we get in contemporary society.” According to Biography she earned a BFA from the Atlanta College of Art in 1991, as well as a MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1994.

She uses silhouettes to illustrate scenes that cover the whole room. These one dimension scenes tell stories of great depth. Her work is absolutely tied to African American History. Often these scenes tell stories of racism, African American identity, violence, slavery, sexuality and strife. She often uses African Illustration and the usage of African folklore. Often her characters are often in pre-civil war era clothing. She often uses African Illustration and the usage of African folklore according to Artsy. These powerful works of art are cut by hand out of paper. Such powerful works of art created out of such delicate materials.

8866769101_aacf6ff0e4_k(1)

She has been featured in Art21 videos, The New York Times, The New Yorker and TIME as one of TIME’s top 100. TIME’s Magazine goes on to state, “”[Walker] raucously engages both the broad sweep of the big picture and the eloquence of the telling detail. She plays with stereotypes, turning them upside down, spread-eagle and inside out. She revels in cruelty and laughter. Platitudes sicken her. She is brave. Her silhouettes throw themselves against the wall and don’t blink.” It is this strong voice of hers that has no doubt attributed to her success. Her exhibits today are highly sought after. According to her personal website, she has been in 43 solo exhibitions including The Guggenheim. She has also been in 40 group exhibitions. The raw honest nature of her work tends to spark quite a controversy when she is being shown. This was the case at Newark Library in New Jersey when parts of her work were covered. Her work depicted a white male forcing an African American woman’s face to his genitals. Eventually the over was taken off to fully display her work.

Currently Kara Walker is still working on art in New York City where she resides. She also instructs visual arts in the MFA program at Columbia University.