1 00:00:07,180 --> 00:00:12,440 [Kara Walker: Starting Out] 2 00:00:14,260 --> 00:00:19,620 [Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York, NY] 3 00:00:26,520 --> 00:00:27,800 Okay, I think... 4 00:00:27,810 --> 00:00:29,030 I'll probably need the ladder. 5 00:00:29,580 --> 00:00:31,320 Can you move it over a little? 6 00:00:32,140 --> 00:00:33,300 And, um... 7 00:00:40,850 --> 00:00:41,530 Actually... 8 00:00:47,120 --> 00:00:49,940 I have to maybe credit my 24-year-old self 9 00:00:50,149 --> 00:00:52,520 for making a couple of good moves. 10 00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:53,989 [The Drawing Center, New York, NY] 11 00:00:53,989 --> 00:00:56,149 When I started showing work, 12 00:00:56,149 --> 00:00:57,739 I was Providence, Rhode Island-- 13 00:00:57,739 --> 00:00:59,290 I was a student. 14 00:00:59,290 --> 00:01:01,110 I was 24, 15 00:01:01,110 --> 00:01:03,149 and had a big breakout piece at 16 00:01:03,149 --> 00:01:06,469 The Drawing Center in New York City. 17 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:11,540 And it's delicate because the only two things 18 00:01:11,540 --> 00:01:12,740 that are holding them together 19 00:01:12,740 --> 00:01:13,619 are at the fingertips. 20 00:01:14,540 --> 00:01:16,299 This is Huck Finn in a dress, 21 00:01:16,299 --> 00:01:19,499 and his foot is going to land about here. 22 00:01:21,350 --> 00:01:23,810 People were just interested and curious. 23 00:01:23,810 --> 00:01:25,670 Galleries were calling 24 00:01:25,670 --> 00:01:27,390 and wanted to know more, 25 00:01:27,390 --> 00:01:29,560 and artists, they wanted to warn me against 26 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:32,369 having a big success at a young age. 27 00:01:33,340 --> 00:01:34,479 I kind of felt like, 28 00:01:34,479 --> 00:01:36,419 "Well, I don't know myself yet," 29 00:01:36,420 --> 00:01:38,180 "and they don't know me either," 30 00:01:38,180 --> 00:01:40,680 "but if I stay in Providence," 31 00:01:40,680 --> 00:01:43,240 "and take these opportunities as they come," 32 00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:44,200 "that's good." 33 00:01:48,090 --> 00:01:51,009 I knew I wasn't ready to live in New York. 34 00:01:51,009 --> 00:01:53,500 But, I knew that change is kind of inevitable, 35 00:01:53,500 --> 00:01:56,900 and I did want to come to the city when I felt ready. 36 00:01:57,900 --> 00:02:00,620 I've been teaching for, like, twelve years or something 37 00:02:00,630 --> 00:02:02,230 at Columbia University. 38 00:02:03,430 --> 00:02:06,329 I started when I was also a veritable baby 39 00:02:06,329 --> 00:02:09,098 and about the same age as many of the graduate students, 40 00:02:09,098 --> 00:02:11,038 and that was extremely awkward. 41 00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:13,810 When I came to the city, 42 00:02:13,810 --> 00:02:18,370 I felt like my newly forming ego and sense of self 43 00:02:18,370 --> 00:02:21,010 was just, like, torn to shreds. 44 00:02:21,529 --> 00:02:23,730 I don't think I wanted to have the role 45 00:02:23,730 --> 00:02:25,159 that I was hired for, 46 00:02:25,159 --> 00:02:28,499 which was "a successful artist who was successful at a young age," 47 00:02:28,499 --> 00:02:30,409 "telling people how to get what I got." 48 00:02:32,180 --> 00:02:35,120 But, I think I just accepted it this year, 49 00:02:35,129 --> 00:02:37,809 that I must know something--it's been twenty years. 50 00:02:45,219 --> 00:02:46,439 I don't know what that something is, 51 00:02:46,439 --> 00:02:47,709 but if I just keep talking, 52 00:02:47,709 --> 00:02:50,120 then that something, you know, might slip out. 53 00:02:50,120 --> 00:02:51,199 [Frieze Art Fair, New York, NY] 54 00:02:51,199 --> 00:02:52,849 There's no diploma in the world that, 55 00:02:52,849 --> 00:02:54,519 you know, declares you as an artist-- 56 00:02:54,519 --> 00:02:56,169 it's not like becoming a doctor, or something. 57 00:02:56,169 --> 00:02:57,779 Like, you can declare yourself an artist 58 00:02:57,779 --> 00:03:00,359 and then figure out how to be an artist. 59 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:11,799 It's a different art world than the one that I stepped into. 60 00:03:12,480 --> 00:03:14,260 It does seem to be bigger. 61 00:03:14,269 --> 00:03:16,400 There's more distractions, in a way, 62 00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:19,080 from the process of making one's own work. 63 00:03:20,209 --> 00:03:22,959 The pressure to, kind of, conform to a particular 64 00:03:22,959 --> 00:03:26,379 grad school pedigree is problematic. 65 00:03:26,380 --> 00:03:28,680 And I think a lot of people feel that way. 66 00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:34,239 It's, like, a reality that artists are selling work 67 00:03:34,239 --> 00:03:38,659 in order to pay back massive debt from these M.F.A. programs. 68 00:03:38,659 --> 00:03:42,709 But, I did tell my students, not too long ago, 69 00:03:42,709 --> 00:03:43,579 that they have to--and will-- 70 00:03:43,579 --> 00:03:44,699 change the art world 71 00:03:44,699 --> 00:03:47,199 from the moment they step into it. 72 00:03:47,900 --> 00:03:50,260 Like, if it means prioritizing, you know, 73 00:03:50,260 --> 00:03:52,660 critical discourse over objects, 74 00:03:52,660 --> 00:03:54,680 or products, or something like that. 75 00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:55,859 Then, if that's what you want, 76 00:03:55,859 --> 00:03:57,979 then you have to, kind of, make it happen. 77 00:03:57,979 --> 00:04:00,409 And if it's too expensive to make it happen right here, 78 00:04:00,409 --> 00:04:04,729 then you have to make it happen in the place where you can, 79 00:04:04,729 --> 00:04:07,549 and don't think of that as any kind of demotion. 80 00:04:09,299 --> 00:04:11,139 If you can look at the negatives as a student 81 00:04:11,139 --> 00:04:13,409 and see what needs to be changed, 82 00:04:13,409 --> 00:04:16,428 then you have to do that.