Testimony (1)
About the Work
About Testimony
Kara Walker's black silhouettes show characters and scenes grounded in race and the history of the black experience in America. Testimony is a photogravure from Walker's 2004 video work Testimony: Narrative of a Negress Burdened by Good Fortune ...Read More
Kara Walker's black silhouettes show characters and scenes grounded in race and the history of the black experience in America. Testimony is a photogravure from Walker's 2004 video work Testimony: Narrative of a Negress Burdened by Good Fortune. Powerful, disturbing, and controversial, Testimony bears witness to the trauma of slavery that persists in contemporary culture.
Walker's exaggerated outlines of facial features, body shapes, and costume convey her subjects' ethnicity and comment on the way people are defined by race. "The silhouette says a lot with very little information," Walker says, "but that's also what the stereotype does. So I saw the silhouette and the stereotype as linked."Read Less
Walker's exaggerated outlines of facial features, body shapes, and costume convey her subjects' ethnicity and comment on the way people are defined by race. "The silhouette says a lot with very little information," Walker says, "but that's also what the stereotype does. So I saw the silhouette and the stereotype as linked."Read Less
About the Artist
About Kara Walker
Kara Walker's instantly recognizable cut-paper silhouettes are visually striking and charged with racial, sexual, and historical tension, commenting on slavery, the Black American experience ...Read More
Kara Walker's instantly recognizable cut-paper silhouettes are visually striking and charged with racial, sexual, and historical tension, commenting on slavery, the Black American experience, and women's place in society. The characters that populate her work are almost cartoonish, the reduction of human beings to pure physiognomy and exaggerated characteristics indicative of persisting racial and gender stereotypes. "Most pieces have to do with exchanges of power, attempts to steal power away from others," she notes of her art.
Walker's work challenges viewers with scenes and characters that are puzzling, bizarre, shocking, and graphic. While at times controversial, her work encourages the type of engagement, interpretation, and dialogue that makes works of art truly socially and politically relevant. In 1997, Walker was the recipient of the prestigious John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship becoming the youngest person at that time to receive the award, and her career has continued to flourish since.
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Walker's work challenges viewers with scenes and characters that are puzzling, bizarre, shocking, and graphic. While at times controversial, her work encourages the type of engagement, interpretation, and dialogue that makes works of art truly socially and politically relevant. In 1997, Walker was the recipient of the prestigious John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship becoming the youngest person at that time to receive the award, and her career has continued to flourish since.
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Description
Set of five photogravures.Authentication
Signed by the artist.Shipping
Ships in 10-14 business days.This work is final sale and not eligible for return.
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