After what I can only describe as a disturbed introduction to Kara Walkers silhouette work, I thought of history and whose stories get told and retold, and whose story is lost to time. I thought about audience, who in her wider work is she pandering to? Is her work in the same line as alligator bait art or does it fall in the column of liberation art to some extent?
Her silhouettes depict images of decapitated heads, rape, and violence, when I first saw these images I was overcome with emotion so tense, it ricocheted from within me - words would minimise how intense it was - what followed was disgust and horror, but to whom were these directed to? Was it the art itself or was it because this was a reflection of a sometimes forgotten past. To my surprise I settled on something akin to pride, as I acknowledged the resilience necessary to survive the scenes she depicted.
Kara's gift to the heart of empire, Fons Americanus stands tall and regal. The sheer size of it stops you and demands you take it all in. I thought about the use of the term negress, the use is peculiar as it is not a 'reclaimed' term but the use is justifiable because this is a gift to empire and empire is white.
The fountain depicts a hyper visible yet invisible black woman with a slit throat and lactating breasts, underneath that an array of scenes from an empty noose to an army general, a jovial queen Victoria and a man who appears to be pleading as he knees and below that is a snorkelled black woman swimming in shark infested waters to a hapless man who seems to have been completely overcome by the reality of his dangers. This allegory felt like her silhouettes in a larger than life form, the interconnectedness of the seeming unconnected.
This had me thinking of how white brits engage with British history, unlike American history that is tarnished by the legacy of slavery, brits are largely disconnected from the true horror of empire, to many the idea is 'to leave it alone and move on' (05:30 - 06: 02).
Part of point of the work is to never forget, and England has a way of coming off Scot free when it comes to the reality and critique of empire across the world. Slavery merely a skimmed through period in history classes.
With the limited understanding of the horrors of empire very few white British spectators would digest the piece in its entire depth. Would they have better digested the piece if the throat bleed red and milk flowed from the bosom?
African American and African history is riddled in violence. A violence only we can fully fathom, we are able to comprehend the horrors of racial history because of the horrors of present day. And through the spilt blood, the silent tears and milk still we rise.
It's a yes Kara Walker from me.
Ps. You could argue that because of how white audiences engage with the piece - selfies and throwing pennies into it- further implicates them in the commodification of black experiences. This is done throughout history from when lynchings were a family spectacle and people would take their family to the human zoos where the black experience was viewed without deep acknowledgement and deeper detachment. Kara Walker is art in which the white slave masters are depicted as they were.
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