"For us, the idea of having a work that has contradictions is very important—when, in affirming something, it includes itself and attacks itself. How can you put together all of these things that have nothing to do with each other? You use glue! Glue can be an idea, a word. You can use an ideological glue."
"Mistress Demanded a Swift and Dramatic Empathetic Reaction Which We Obliged Her" (2000)
"Mistress Demanded a Swift and Dramatic Empathetic Reaction Which We Obliged Her," 2000
Projection, cut paper and adhesive on wall, 12 x 17 feet
Collection of Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Courtesy Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York
Projection, cut paper and adhesive on wall, 12 x 17 feet
Collection of Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Courtesy Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York
"One of the things that's happened here with the work that I've done is that because it mimics narrative, and narrative is a kind of given when it comes to work produced by black women in this country, there's almost an expectation of something cohesive...a kind of 'Color Purple' scenario where things resolve in a certain way. A female heroine actualizes through a process of self-discovery and historical discovery and comes out from under her oppressors and maybe doesn't become a hero but is a hero for herself. And nothing ever comes of that in the pieces that I'm making."
- Kara Walker
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