8 Possible Beginnings or: The Creation of African-America

2005 - Film & Video (Film & Video)

Kara Walker

location: New York, New York
year born: 1969
gender: female
nationality: American
home town: Stockton, California

In her masterpiece 8 Possible Beginnings or The Creation of African-America , Walker unravels just that, the story of struggle, oppression, escape and the complexities of power dynamics in the history following slave trade in America. Her use of contour and silhouette accentuate emotion with rigor, she reduces the narrative to black and white as gruesome acts of sex and violence address trauma, fear and suffering through a majestic play of shadow and light.


Kara E. Walker is a monumental American artist whose work probes the tarnished history of race in America, as well as that of gender, and sexual identity. Walker works in sculpture, collage, mixed media, drawing, graphic imagery and moving image/animation. Her iconic cutout silhouettes sample fragments of folklore as well as recorded history, as she often shows stereotypical depictions of African Americans as portrayed in history books in shockingly graphic yet accurate situations. She elegantly presents a problematic past, seduced by the medium yet wrought by unsettled emotion.


Colors:



Related works sharing similar palette

Decomposing Eternally
© » KADIST

George Pfau

2010

This work exemplifies George Pfau’s interest in zombies and liminal embodiment...

Archaeologists Discover Ancient Roman Baths Beneath a Museum in Croatia
© » ARTNET

The pool, mosaic floors and underfloor heating once formed part of Emperor Diocletian’s palace...

Karolina Halatek: The power of light
© » THE RE:ART

Karolina Halatek: The power of light - The re:art Karolina Halatek: The power of light In her immersive site-specific installations, Polish artist Karolina Halatek uses light as the main medium...

Art Basel reveals 287 leading galleries and expanded city-wide program for its 2024 edition in Basel, Switzerland (News)
© » ARTEFUSE

Art Basel reveals 287 leading galleries and expanded city-wide program for its 2024 edition in Basel, Switzerland (News) - ArteFuse Art Basel reveals 287 leading galleries and expanded city-wide program for its 2024 edition in Basel, the first led by the show’s new Director Maike Cruse With 287 premier galleries from 40 countries and territories, Art Basel will once again bring together the international art world at its marquee fair in Basel, Switzerland...

6 museum exhibitions & 2 Art Fairs* to see early 2024.
© » FAD MAGAZINE

6 museum exhibitions & 2 Art Fairs* to see early 2024...

Things Entangling
© » KADIST

Things Entangling Edited by Che Kyongfa and Elodie Royer Designed by Toshimasa Kimura Published by Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT) and KADIST The publication is available in pdf — see links on the right side of this page Things Entangling was published on the occasion of the eponymous collective exhibition presented at MOT, Tokyo from June 9 to September 27, 2020, the culmination of a long-term curatorial collaboration between MOT and KADIST...

Untitled
© » KADIST

Kitty Kraus

Composed of two rectilinear pieces of glass, this work is part of a series of sculptures started in 2006...

Otobong Nkanga: Comot Your Eyes Make I Borrow You Mine
© » KADIST

Otobong Nkanga’s Comot Your Eyes Make I Borrow You Mine explores what it means when material abundance is replaced by absence, and when desire is superseded by cool disinterest...

Le Droit à l’oubli — Musée Transitoire #3
© » SLASH PARIS

Le Droit à l’oubli — Musée Transitoire #3 — Musée Transitoire — Exhibition — Slash Paris Login Newsletter Twitter Facebook Le Droit à l’oubli — Musée Transitoire #3 — Musée Transitoire — Exhibition — Slash Paris English Français Home Events Artists Venues Magazine Videos Back Previous Next Le Droit à l’oubli — Musée Transitoire #3 Exhibition Mixed media Jean-Charles de Quillacq, vue de l’exposition Le Droit à l’oubli, Musée Transitoire #3 © Musée Transitoire Le Droit à l’oubli Musée Transitoire #3 Ends in about 2 months: January 26 → March 30, 2024 Date de clôture provisoire Artistes : Bas Jan Ader, Mégane Brauer, Sarah Bucher, A...

People Can Be Prescribed “Photography” as a Mental Health Treatment in the UK
© » MODERN MET PHOTOGRAPHY

People in the UK Can Be Prescribed Photography to Treat Mental Health Home / Science / Health People Can Be Prescribed “Photography” as a Mental Health Treatment in the UK By Margherita Cole on December 6, 2023 Photo: olhovyi_photographer/ Depositphotos Creative outlets like drawing and painting are great ways of exploring your emotions and relieving stress...

Le réel est l'impasse de la formalisation ; la formalisation est le lieu de passe-en-force du réel
© » KADIST

Benoît Maire

2006

The piece consists of sculpture of 10 elements, among them: a globe, a picture of a gorilla, a chair, scrabble letters, 3 glasses of black ink, a book whose title is illuminated by the beam of a 8mm projector, a pair of boots, etc...

Kimbell Art Museum acquires important cultural touchstone of Olmec art
© » THEARTNEWSPER

Kimbell Art Museum acquires important cultural touchstone of Olmec art Art market Museums & heritage Exhibitions Books Podcasts Columns Technology Adventures with Van Gogh Search Search Museums & Heritage news Kimbell Art Museum acquires important cultural touchstone of Olmec art The jade statuette of an Olmec ruler holding a baby were-jaguar will be exhibited as the centrepiece of the Texas museum's ancient American collection Theo Belci 14 December 2023 Share Standing Figure Holding a Were-Jaguar Baby (around 900BC-300BC) Photo: Justin Kerr., courtesy of the Justin Kerr Maya archive, Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University, Washington, DC The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, has acquired Standing Figure Holding a Were-Jaguar Baby (around 900BC-300BC), a jade statuette at the centre of Olmec civilisation studies since the mid-20th century...

Like an Attali report, but different
© » KADIST

Like an Attali report, but different June 15 – July 27, 2008 Curator: Cosmin Costinas With: Yael Bartana, Gregg Bordowitz, Heman Chong, Ciprian Muresan, Deimantas Narkevicius, Redza Piyadasa, Pushwagner, Anatoli Osmolovsky, Mona Vatamanu & Florin Tudor The Attali Report (or the Report of the Commission for the Liberation of French Growth), commissioned by President Sarkozy, was published half a year ago, provoking a long series of discussions, mainly confined to the French public arena and mainly focused on the report’s concrete proposals, set to implement a neoliberal model for the French economy and society...

In The Air Tonight
© » KADIST

Andrew Norman Wilson

2020

On the first day of the Covid-19 lockdown in New York, Andrew Norman Wilson was evicted from his sublet and decided to board a $30 flight to Los Angeles that evening...

Untitled (Stanley Kubrick, 1945)
© » KADIST

Tim Lee

2010

Part of Tim Lee’s practice involves envisioning himself reenacting key moments from iconic peoples’ lives...

Untitled (Ticket Roll)
© » KADIST

Gabriel Kuri

2010

Gabriel Kuri has created a series of works in which he juxtaposes perennial and ephemeral materials...

The photographer capturing the eerie illustrations of Thai legend Hem Vejakorn (via SEA Globe)
© » ARTS EQUATOR

The photographer capturing the eerie illustrations of Thai legend Hem Vejakorn (via SEA Globe) | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles September 21, 2018 Photographer Pattana Chuenmana has reimagined the illustrations of Hem Vejakorn, a well-known Thai artist and writer, in moving black-and-white still images...

3-Legged
© » KADIST

John Wood and Paul Harrison

1997

3-Legged is an early video work by John Wood and Paul Harrison in which they appear with their legs tied together (as one would do in a three-legged race)...

A Long-Lost Pompeii Treasure Was Found in the Basement of a Family Home in Belgium
© » ARTNET

The precious marble was brought home 50 years ago as a souvenir after a family vacation in Italy...

The Town
© » KADIST

Michel Auder

1999

The Town consists of footage taken from Auder’s studio of the skyline of New York, tracking planes as they fly across the sky and pass tall buildings...