Kara Walker: My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love

I have chosen two black silhouettes of dances from the exhibition entitled ‘My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love’ by Kara Walker.  They are the only two happy characters in a scene of violence.  The dances look happy and lively.  The rest of the scene looks like witchcraft.  There are jagged black shapes in the sky.  Some could be evil black birds and omens.  Another image shows a girl who has stuck a scissors into a man’s back.  The exhibition takes its inspiration from the slaves in the southern States of American before the Civil War, and minstrel shows.  It covers racism, violence and sexuality.

In the picture there are large, black, flat cut-outs on white background.  As they are silhouettes, the shadows create the only depth.  The cut-outs have no faces.  This could be because Kara Walker is mainly concentrating on the actions rather than the individual people.

Kara Walker is an African American and was born on 26 November 1969 in Stockton, California.  Her father was an artist and she enjoyed watching him work when she was young.  She also enjoyed and admired Andy Warhol’s work.

I am studying Kara Walker’s work because we are doing a mural and her work is displayed in the exhibition very effectively on the walls.