Im not really about blackness, per se, but about blackness and whiteness, and what they mean and how they interact with one another and what power is all about.
Kara WalkerThe silhouette says a lot with very little information, but that's also what the stereotype does.
Kara WalkerThere's no diploma in the world that declares you as an artistโit's not like becoming a doctor. You can declare yourself an artist and then figure out how to be an artist.
Kara WalkerI often compare my method of working to that of a well-meaning freed woman in a Northern state who is attempting to delineate the horrors of Southern slavery but with next to no resources, other than some paper and a pen knife and some people she'd like to kill
Kara WalkerSugar crystallizes something in our American Soul. It is emblematic of all Industrial Processes. And of the idea of becoming white. White Being equated with pure and โtrueโ it takes a lot of energy to turn brown things into white things. A lot of pressure.
Kara WalkerI didnโt want a completely passive viewer. Art means too much to me. To be able to articulate something visually is really an important thing. I wanted to make work where the viewer wouldnโt walk away; he would giggle nervously, get pulled into history, into fiction, into something totally demeaning and possibly very beautiful
Kara Walker