Darkytown Rebellion

To me, this piece is very inspiring and interesting due to not only the unique usage of medium, but the work of Kara Walker in general is very intriguing because it incorporates history and tells a story. The theme of race is not only incorporated into her work, but there is a specific historical setting. The setting for her works is the pre-Civil War south, which reminds many viewers of the era of slavery. Although Walker incorporates history from that era into her work, it is not always the truth, and she strives to intertwine both fact and fiction into her pieces, allowing viewers to sort out the truth for themselves and self-interpret. I am very admirable of her work for the abstract color used for backdrop scenery (which is created by a projector), because it contrasts greatly with the black silhouettes - which is another aspect that I admire. The identities of the characters she creates in her pieces are not revealed, which allows viewers to create identities for those characters. I admire her work, because it tells and re-creates a story, as well as incorporates actual facts, which is significant to myself, because it allows humanity to ponder upon events of the past and make self-realizations and see how we have progressed as a whole and how we can prevent negative events for re-occurring (for example - slavery).

Image derived from:Walker, Kara. Darkytown Rebellion. 2001. Cut paper and projection on wall. Southern SpacesWeb. 12 Sep 2013. <http://www.southernspaces.org/2008/horrible-beautiful-beast>.