[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:16.50,0:00:19.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,KARA WALKER: The Psychlorama, you know,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:19.65,0:00:23.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was a major phenomenon in the 19th century,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:25.04,0:00:27.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but it's just before cinema, you know.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:28.64,0:00:29.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's round.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:29.96,0:00:33.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So you enter into this rotunda that's lit.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:40.16,0:00:44.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's like the peak of the painter's \Ncreative enterprise, you know,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:44.72,0:00:47.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to make the painting surround the viewer
Dialogue: 0,0:00:47.80,0:00:52.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and to create the illusion of depth and of space
Dialogue: 0,0:00:52.28,0:00:58.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and to lure the viewer into the \Nfeeling of being a part of the scene.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:21.16,0:01:25.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Brazilian teacher]: Is there \Nonly one story being told here?
Dialogue: 0,0:01:26.84,0:01:29.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It seems each figure comprises a story.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:30.28,0:01:33.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,At the same time, we’re in a round room?
Dialogue: 0,0:01:35.40,0:01:39.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Does the story have a beginning or end?
Dialogue: 0,0:01:42.64,0:01:46.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Most of my work is, the illusion \Nis that it’s about past events.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:46.64,0:01:53.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The illusion is that it’s simply about a \Nparticular point in history and nothing else.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:53.00,0:01:57.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it’s really part of the \Nruse that I tend to like to
Dialogue: 0,0:01:57.64,0:02:03.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,approach the complexities of my \Nown life by distancing myself
Dialogue: 0,0:02:03.84,0:02:07.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and finding a parallel in something prettier
Dialogue: 0,0:02:07.16,0:02:09.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and more uh, genteel,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:09.20,0:02:12.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like that picture of the Old \NSouth that’s a stereotype.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:19.20,0:02:21.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I had started to read the book Gone With the Wind
Dialogue: 0,0:02:21.16,0:02:25.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and was thrilled, with how, you know,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:25.20,0:02:27.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,engrossing that story was,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:27.28,0:02:29.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and how grotesque it was at the same time…
Dialogue: 0,0:02:32.84,0:02:35.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the romance of it, the storytelling,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:35.32,0:02:39.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it was so rich and epic and \Nthat was what I hadn't expected.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:39.80,0:02:44.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I hadn't expected to be titillated \Nin the way that, you know,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:44.40,0:02:46.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,stories like that are meant to titillate.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:48.24,0:02:52.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It was so much fodder for \Nthe work that I wanted to do.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:57.88,0:03:00.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The distressing part was always being caught up
Dialogue: 0,0:03:00.48,0:03:03.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the voice of the heroine, Scarlet O'Hara.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:04.40,0:03:06.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Scarlet, in her desperation is, you know,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:06.84,0:03:11.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,digging up dried-up roots and \Ntubers down by the slaves’ quarters
Dialogue: 0,0:03:11.76,0:03:15.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and she's overcome by a "niggery" scent?
Dialogue: 0,0:03:16.10,0:03:17.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and vomits?
Dialogue: 0,0:03:19.64,0:03:22.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it's scenes like that, that you know,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:22.88,0:03:29.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,might go washed over by the sort of \Nvast, epic structure of the story,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:29.64,0:03:31.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but that is an epic moment.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:38.56,0:03:43.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A lot of my work has been about the unexpected…
Dialogue: 0,0:03:44.70,0:03:46.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that kind of wanting to be the heroine
Dialogue: 0,0:03:46.64,0:03:50.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and yet wanting to kill the \Nheroine at the same time.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:55.52,0:04:00.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And, that kind of dilemma, that push and pull,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:00.60,0:04:07.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is the underlying turbulence that I \Nbring to each of the pieces that I make.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:15.16,0:04:18.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The silhouette lends itself to, you know,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:18.56,0:04:23.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,avoidance of the subject, you know, \Nnot being able to look at it directly.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:30.20,0:04:34.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My earliest memory of uh, wanting to be an artist–
Dialogue: 0,0:04:34.72,0:04:38.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,uh, I was three, I was sitting on my dad’s lap
Dialogue: 0,0:04:38.44,0:04:40.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and he was drawing in his studio
Dialogue: 0,0:04:40.92,0:04:45.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which was the garage of our \Nhouse in Stockton, California.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:45.20,0:04:47.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I remember thinking to myself that I,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:47.72,0:04:49.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I wanted to do what he did.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:51.44,0:04:54.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And he used to give me chalk \Nto draw on the sidewalk,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:54.20,0:04:58.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you know he would you \Nknow document my creations.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:02.40,0:05:06.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When we moved from California to Georgia,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:06.24,0:05:10.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I know that I was having nightmares \Nabout moving to the South.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:10.76,0:05:14.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know, the South already \Nwas a place loaded with,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:14.48,0:05:19.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like I said, mythology, but also a \Nreality of, you know, viciousness.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:21.68,0:05:24.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It was just such a frightening prospect,\N
Dialogue: 0,0:05:25.24,0:05:29.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to be sort of borderline \Nbetween child and teenager
Dialogue: 0,0:05:29.40,0:05:33.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and going into an environment where \Nblack kids are being targeted.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:41.20,0:05:45.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Stone Mountain, Georgia is where \NI did most of my growing up.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:46.64,0:05:50.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It’s like a Mount Rushmore type of \Nthing, of the confederate heroes.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:52.32,0:05:55.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That is pretty significant.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:55.80,0:05:59.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Stone Mountain was a haven for the Ku Klux Klan.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:02.48,0:06:06.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So that place had a little bit more resonance.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:07.93,0:06:09.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It was just so in your face.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:09.44,0:06:11.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There was no real hiding the fact.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:14.64,0:06:19.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know, what black stands for in white America,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:19.64,0:06:23.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what white stands for in white \NAmerica are all loaded with
Dialogue: 0,0:06:23.28,0:06:29.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,our deepest psychological \Nperversions and fears and longings.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:37.56,0:06:41.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Most of the pieces, I guess, have \Nto do with exchanges of power,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:41.24,0:06:44.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,attempts to steal power away from others.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:51.40,0:06:53.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was tracing outlines of…
Dialogue: 0,0:06:53.68,0:06:56.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of profiles you know thinking about uh, uh,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:56.20,0:07:01.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,uh, physiognomy and racist sciences and minstrelsy
Dialogue: 0,0:07:01.80,0:07:06.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the shadow and, and the dark side of the soul.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:06.40,0:07:10.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And and I thought well you \Nknow I’ve got black paper here
Dialogue: 0,0:07:10.00,0:07:14.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I was making silhouette paintings \Nbut they weren’t the same thing.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:14.24,0:07:17.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And, and it seemed like the most obvious answer,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:17.92,0:07:19.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it took me forever to come to, just,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:19.80,0:07:24.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,just to make a cut in the \Nsurface of this black thing.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:24.80,0:07:27.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know I had this black paper \Nand if I just made a cut in it,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:27.72,0:07:33.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was creating a hole, you know and it was \Nlike the whole world was in there for me.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:47.76,0:07:50.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I've always been interested in the melodramatic,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:50.28,0:07:55.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in outrageous gestures. I love history paintings…
Dialogue: 0,0:07:56.36,0:07:59.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this artistic, painterly conceit,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:59.16,0:08:02.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which is to make a painting a stage,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:02.52,0:08:07.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and to think of your characters, \Nyour portraits or whomever,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:07.60,0:08:09.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as characters on that stage…
Dialogue: 0,0:08:15.16,0:08:21.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and to freeze-frame a moment \Nthat is full of pain and blood\N
Dialogue: 0,0:08:21.84,0:08:24.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and guts and drama and glory.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:28.00,0:08:32.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This work is two parts research \Nand one part paranoid hysteria.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:37.00,0:08:38.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It’s called “INSURRECTION.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:38.44,0:08:41.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Our tools were rudimentary, yet we pressed on”…
Dialogue: 0,0:08:43.60,0:08:48.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,an image of a slave revolt \Nin the antebellum south uh,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:48.24,0:08:52.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where the house slaves got after their master
Dialogue: 0,0:08:52.84,0:08:56.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with their utensils of every day life
Dialogue: 0,0:08:56.00,0:08:58.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and really it started with a sketch of,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:58.12,0:09:02.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of a series of slaves disemboweling \Na master with a soup ladle.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:04.44,0:09:10.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My reference in my mind was the surgical \Ntheater paintings of Thomas Eakins.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:12.92,0:09:15.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Overhead projectors created a space where
Dialogue: 0,0:09:15.84,0:09:21.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the viewer’s shadow would also \Nbe projected into the scene
Dialogue: 0,0:09:21.20,0:09:25.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so that maybe they would \Nyou know, become implicated.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:34.20,0:09:36.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Overhead projectors are a didactic tool,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:36.80,0:09:39.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they’re a schoolroom tool, so they’re about,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:39.64,0:09:42.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean in my thinking they’re \Nabout conveying facts.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:44.04,0:09:49.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The work that I do is about \Nprojecting fictions into those facts.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:10.68,0:10:17.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I began to love the kind of self-promotion \Nsurrounding the work of the silhouette artist.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:17.48,0:10:18.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know they would have to uh,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:18.64,0:10:22.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,show up in different towns \Nand advertise their skills
Dialogue: 0,0:10:22.48,0:10:28.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and sometimes very overblown language \Ndescribing their incredible skills,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:28.36,0:10:29.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you know able to cut you know in, in uh,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:31.20,0:10:35.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,less than a minute you know, ten \Nseconds for your, your sitting,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:35.16,0:10:38.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for your likeness, accurate likenesses.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:39.48,0:10:42.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I also begun to question this \Nwhole idea of accurate likenesses.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:47.00,0:10:50.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The work takes on this narrative structure,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:51.00,0:10:56.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,creates all the elements of the \Nstory and I just need the viewer,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:57.94,0:11:04.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like an author needs a reader, you know, to \Nfill-in the rest of the tension of the story.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:19.14,0:11:24.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is a book I made in 1997, \Ncalled “Freedom: A Fable.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:25.12,0:11:29.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A Curious Interpretation of the Wit \Nof a Negress in Troubled Times.”
Dialogue: 0,0:11:34.28,0:11:38.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The negress, as a term that I apply to myself,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:38.40,0:11:41.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is a real and artificial construct.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:41.36,0:11:47.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Everything I'm doing is trying to skirt \Nthe line between fiction and reality.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:53.92,0:11:58.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It’s not just an examination of \Nrace relations in America today.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:58.08,0:11:59.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean, that's a part of it.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:59.48,0:12:01.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's a part of being an \NAfrican American woman artist,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:01.64,0:12:07.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but it's about how do you make \Nrepresentations of your world,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:07.48,0:12:09.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,given what you've been given?