This past weekend after photographing at the Desedo Films party on Thursday night I got the chance to go to the Kara Walker exhibit at the Whitney Museum on Friday. To anyone who is in New York or who will be passing through sometime between now and February 3rd of next year, this show is a must see. I had seen some of her work in the past, but for it to be presented as a solo show with a sizable selection of her work was really amazing. She uses silhouettes of racial imagery from the Antebellum South to explore issues of racial identity and sexuality in a very graphic satirical style that questions the history of this country as well as the notions that each of us hold about black stereotypes. It speaks to the historical and present day dynamic of our society. Walker has experienced a lot of controversy from all corners surrounding her work in the past continuing to this day, but after seeing this show there is no doubt in my mind that she is striking a nerve that most people choose to avoid, be it in an art context or elsewhere, and at the very least she is opening a dialogue. Many have accused her of selling out (having been accepted by the white establishment) and see her appropriation of white racist imagery as somehow a sign of an immature vision that is only doing harm to herself and those who view her work. When going through the show, there IS a sense of a kind of masturbatory nature to it in terms of seeing the same absurd and violent images over and over again, and it leads you to wonder that if it is opening a dialogue, what kind of conversation is it, and who gains from it? Watching this video, you can tell that she isn’t just trying to do this for attention necessarily, but that this is a very personal and genuine questioning of the historical implications of racial portrayal…thoughts?
So an interesting addendum to this post. When I saw this video I had no background on it and just happened to stumble across it on youtube, but I definitely had doubts about this guy when I saw the video, both because of the over-the-top statements he was making and because of his stuttering speech and the deviation of his eyes. It seemed like he was trying to remember a script he had been given, and as it turns out and as Yoram has pointed out to me…that’s exactly what he was doing, and this whole thing was debunked back in May of 2006. It’s funny to me when things like this surface because you end up asking yourself why these people do this? The same way I ask myself why the only news channel I get in upstate New York is Fox News and why Bill O’Reilly is somehow allowed to persist with his lies and misinformation on the other end of the spectrum. In conclusion:
(from umeancompetitor)
This was a moment of inspiration because I and a whole generation of people will always have a special connection to In Living Color and it was on late night cable just now, harkening back to an era when the Wayans Brothers actually did funny shit instead of stuff like WHITE CHICKS. Homey don’t play dat.
Rich Boy might not be anything special but this video at least shows that he has a lot more depth than just ‘Throw Some D’s’ and I respect the man for supposedly paying for this video out of pocket and breaking the mold of what the labels will support him doing…hope this one gets airplay on MTV/BET.
