Feb 17, 2012
I gave a presentation today on an artist featured in my university's museum for which I chose the contemporary African American artist Kara Walker. Kara uniquely combines the Victorian method of the silhouette with racial and sexual imagery, creating pieces that are both historical and provocative. I've only ever seen the traditional use of the silhouette, the portrait, and was pleasantly surprised to see how Kara creates whole scenes with the cut-out black paper. This image is called The Means to an End--A Shadow Drama in Five Acts. At a quick glance the piece looks playful but the piece completely changes with a second look. (Click the photo to enlarge)
