The Kara Walker show at the Whitney must be understood within the historical context. With the exception of genocide, the act of slavery is the most barbaric element of the human experience. Yet what images do we actually have of slavery? Since we have no photographs of slavery, like those of genocides in the 20th Century, are images of slavery are very abstract. Particularly for those of us who did not grow up in the United States, slavery is a concept, but not an image.
I can understand the anger that a visual artist might possess about how slavery is perceived in the American consciousness, particularly an African American artist. Perhaps this explains the shocking images Walker presents in her show. These silhouettes of depraved sexual acts, some between adults and children, violence and other grotesque human behavior somehow identifies us with the age of slavery in the American South. Yet these images are presented in a cartoonish, maybe even a comical manner, so they do not repulse like the images of the Jewish Holocaust in Europe during World War II. This is quite remarkable given the images include children being raped, babies being impaled with a sword and women suckling off each other’s breasts. One wonders if Walker’s frivolous aesthetics were chosen to counter the extremely disturbing subject matter.
One of the fascinating responses to this exhibit occurs when you try to divorce your understanding of the content from your perception of the aesthetics. Frankly, the images achieve a kind of rhythmic beauty, dare I say. If you viewed the silhouettes from a distance, failing to realize their content, you might think they belong in a set for a haunted house. There is something about them that resembles the 19th Century that I have seen in movies, such as Sleepy Hollow. You can depict the style of dress the figures are wearing as 19th Century, and you can depict some of the figures as African. Because there is no detail, only figures in silhouette, this forces you to look at the images longer to decipher them, just as you might scrutinize a photo of the Holocaust for the gruesome details.
Frankly, I think many people have overreacted to this exhibit in their expressions of shock. This is not photographic evidence of American slavery. We are not supposed to be outraged over slavery after viewing this exhibit. Rather, this is the product of an artist who is outraged over slavery. Walker challenges us to think about the graphic displays and then digest them into our own visual history of American slavery. This does not occur at the exhibit itself, but over a longer period of time. This may occur subconsciously. Walker’s images may become part of the American conscience about slavery, even though none of us ever witnessed that barbaric part of American history. Most importantly, we may not even realize Walker had this influence on how we view a historical event in our imaginations, since her images are so obviously not a part of the historical record.
