Kara Walker

According to Kara Walker, her works of art are "two parts research and one part paranoid hysteria." 

At first, Walker would do paintings of Victorian style silhouettes. Now, those silhouettes have transferred  to the medium of paper. 

Walker's pieces have a lot to do with history. However, it would be wrong to say that her works are about the past in general. She explains that her art is about "a particular point in history and nothing else." Walker also explores the realm of what's real and what's not by depicting a real time in history but with fictional events occurring. 

Walker mostly uses her silhouette figures in her art. They are almost always all black and wall-sized. Walker's works also have a flatness to them. Not just because they are made out of paper, but because there is no depth or shadows to the solid color (or lack of color) figures. The use of physical light is also employed in Walker's pieces so that the viewers' shadows can mingle with her silhouettes. 

Although Walker's art is about the relation of race in America, she goes on to say that that is only a part of it. She states that her art is mostly how you, "make representations of your world given what you've been given."

Information provided by:

"Kara Walker." Art21. PBS, n.d. Web. 2 Apr. 2014.