February 3 Emily introduces Camptown Ladies by Kara Walker

Details of the work

•Kara Walker
•Camptown Ladies
•1998
•Cut paper and adhesive on wall
•Overall size 9 x 67 feet

Kara Walker

Kara Walker (born November 26, 1969) is a contemporary African American artist who explores race, gender, sexuality, violence and identity in her work. She is best known for her room-size tableaux of black cut-paper silhouettes.

Part of Camptown Ladies

Part of her work

Part of her work

Part of her work

The content expressed

•In the theme of history
•Explore stereotypes about blacks and women with narratives from the old south and the time of slavery
•The use of black material on white emphasizes her racial agenda
•Bad treatment from the white to black
•Reflected on the consequencesof slavery and American racism

Reshuffling the Past

•Rapid change of style in recent
•The past styles are not eliminated completely
•Forged her individual styles by characteristic manner
•Destabilize the present
•Audience’ understanding rely on the background information of the work

Reframing the Past

•Change how we understand the present
•Appears in new context and more critically
•Close relationship between representation of history and race relations today
•Revisiting the history needs artist’s past related experience

My opinion

‧Audience’s participation in the work
‧Good idea of reminding viewer of the past in a simple way- black and white
‧Not only remember, but also think about the content of work

Discussion:

What do you think of investigating the aspect of racism in this way (black cut-paper silhouettes) ?

References:

•http://artpup.blogspot.com/2007/04/camptown-ladies.htmlladies.html
•http://www.30americans.com/Artist/Kara_Walker/1.htmler/1.html
•http://blogcritics.org/culture/article/kara-walker-at-the-whitney-museum/at-the-whitney-museum/
•http://www.terminartors.com/walker-kara-2662-a
•Jean Robertson and Craig McDaniel, “Time” , 58-60