Should I never be heard from again? : the controversial reception of Kara Walker

Abstract

Kara Walker's life-size cut-paper silhouettes, applied directly to the gallery wall, depict narratives of antebellum plantation life. Her artwork reveals contemporary racism via the historic lens of the Old South and a postmodern methodology of deconstruction. Walker's first silhouette debuted at The Drawing Center in 1994. Walker's work was poorly received by several prominent members of the African American community, namely black females. By 1997 she was at the center of a heated discussion about black representation and self-presentation that motivated a series of published articles, distributed letters and pamphlets, several symposia, and boycotts. Walker's critics vehemently attacked both her artwork and her person, calling her "a weapon against the Black community." The early responses to Walker by the African American community by her most outspoken critics, Betye Saar and Howardena Pindell, as well as the written forum and symposium "Change the Joke and Slip the Yoke" are explored. This thesis analyzes Walker's subsequent response through her artwork, by focusing on: Do You Like Creme in Your Coffee and Chocolate in Your Milk? (1997) a series of over sixty drawings, watercolors, and writings, Cut (1999), and Hunting Scene (2001).