I was thrilled to hear that the University Museum of Contemporary Art would be hosting an exhibit of Kara Walker’s work this spring titled Emancipating the Past: Kara Walker’s Tales of Slavery and Power.  I don’t know how I first learned about this artist — maybe because I’ve been a supporter of the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington DC since its inception? — but when I heard the news, I understood immediately what an honor it was for UMass to be chosen as a site for this exhibit.

I attended the opening last night, at which event both Chancellor Subbaswamy and collector Jordan Schnitzer spoke, but I wanted to explore the exhibit in more depth, so at 6 pm, I joined a group of about a dozen others at the Museum for a public tour of the exhibition, in collaboration with Amherst Arts Night.  Eva Fierst, Curator of Education, guided us around the exhibit, talked about the artwork, and asked us to participate in a conversation about what we were seeing.  (Ordinarily, a student docent would be leading these tours, but we are in the beginning of the semester, and students are still settling in to their schedules.)

A native of Portland, Oregon, Mr. Schnitzer bought his first painting at age fourteen, and ever since then, he has pursued his passion for art, in particular for contemporary prints.  He says in his collector’s statement:

In 1997, I purchased my first Kara Walker print, and have been steadily adding her work to my collection ever since.  Her work engages me both intellectually and emotionally.  The themes are numerous: race, power, identity, gender, and violence . . . Her work grabs me and shakes me to my inner core, as it should.

I had seen Kara Walker’s work in magazines and such, but viewing it up close is quite a different experience, perhaps because of the physical size of many of the pieces. This exhibition brings together 60 works in a variety of media, from printmaking to wall murals, from metal sculpture to shadow puppetry. The exhibition was curated by Jessi Di Tillio, Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon.

Ms. Fierst asked us to view and respond to the following pieces:

• African/American, 1998, Linocut
• The Keys to the Coop, 1997, Linoleum block print
• An Unpeopled Land in Uncharted Waters, 2010, Etching with aquatint, sugar-lift, spit-bite, and dry point
• Harper’s Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated), 2005, Offset lithography and silkscreen
• Emancipation Approximation, 1999-2000, Silkscreen
• Testimony, 2005, Photogravure

We had a lively discussion, with the gallery visitors offering many different interpretations of and reactions to the pieces.  I myself can’t say that I “liked” a particular piece more or less than another — “like” is not really adequate to convey one’s thoughts and emotions.  I certainly admire Ms. Walker’s technical artistry, and what she has done for the silhouette is remarkable, but I find her images very disturbing, and I don’t see the humor in any of them.  There’s nothing laughable about racism or sexism, or the brutalities inflicted on others by powerful people.

I urge you to see the exhibit yourself.  It will be on display this semester until April 30th.  A number of events are scheduled around the exhibit: tours, lectures, panel discussions, a film screening, and more.