Emancipating the Past: Kara Walker's Tales of Slavery and Power

Exhibit Details


Opening Reception: September 11, 5:30 to 7:00 PM
September 12, 2015 - January 3, 2016
Eldredge, Spratlen and Armstrong Galleries

Emerging in New York in the mid-1990s, Kara Walker has become one of the most successful and controversial artists working today.  Exploring the painful history of American race relations and its contemporary paradoxes, Walker transforms historical materials, literary sources and popular culture through a range of projects utilizing the silhouette as core imagery.

This exhibition brings together 60 works from the collection of the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation in a variety of mediums, from large-scale printmaking to metal sculpture and shadow puppetry. The exhibit was curated by Jessi DiTillo, Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon.

This exhibition is intended for an adult audience.

Related Programs:


October 22, 2015, 5:30 - 6:30 PM   FREE
Kara Walker in Context
Professor Curlee R. Holton, Director of the David C. Driskell Center at the University of Maryland,  will speak about Kara Walker's work. 
Eldredge, Spratlen and Armstrong Galleries
 
November 5, 2015, 5:30 PM   FREE
Film Screening: Kara Walker: Art21
Auditorium
MAC

Financial assistance for this project has been provided by the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency.

silhouette image of a woman falling
Kara Walker, African/American, 1998, linocut. Courtesy of Jordan D. Schnitzer and the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation. 

© 2015 Kara Walker.

Gallery Guide

A black and white image of an African woman lying on her back
View or download the gallery guide courtesy of the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art.