0:00:07.180,0:00:12.440 [Kara Walker: Starting Out] 0:00:14.260,0:00:19.620 [Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York, NY] 0:00:26.520,0:00:27.800 Okay, I think... 0:00:27.810,0:00:29.030 I'll probably need the ladder. 0:00:29.580,0:00:31.320 Can you move it over a little? 0:00:32.140,0:00:33.300 And, um... 0:00:40.850,0:00:41.530 Actually... 0:00:47.120,0:00:49.940 I have to maybe credit my 24-year-old self 0:00:50.149,0:00:52.520 for making a couple of good moves. 0:00:52.520,0:00:53.989 [The Drawing Center, New York, NY] 0:00:53.989,0:00:56.149 When I started showing work, 0:00:56.149,0:00:57.739 I was Providence, Rhode Island-- 0:00:57.739,0:00:59.290 I was a student. 0:00:59.290,0:01:01.110 I was 24, 0:01:01.110,0:01:03.149 and had a big breakout piece at 0:01:03.149,0:01:06.469 The Drawing Center in New York City. 0:01:09.000,0:01:11.540 And it's delicate because the only two things 0:01:11.540,0:01:12.740 that are holding them together 0:01:12.740,0:01:13.619 are at the fingertips. 0:01:14.540,0:01:16.299 This is Huck Finn in a dress, 0:01:16.299,0:01:19.499 and his foot is going to land about here. 0:01:21.350,0:01:23.810 People were just interested and curious. 0:01:23.810,0:01:25.670 Galleries were calling 0:01:25.670,0:01:27.390 and wanted to know more, 0:01:27.390,0:01:29.560 and artists, they wanted to warn me against 0:01:29.560,0:01:32.369 having a big success at a young age. 0:01:33.340,0:01:34.479 I kind of felt like, 0:01:34.479,0:01:36.419 "Well, I don't know myself yet," 0:01:36.420,0:01:38.180 "and they don't know me either," 0:01:38.180,0:01:40.680 "but if I stay in Providence," 0:01:40.680,0:01:43.240 "and take these opportunities as they come," 0:01:43.240,0:01:44.200 "that's good." 0:01:48.090,0:01:51.009 I knew I wasn't ready to live in New York. 0:01:51.009,0:01:53.500 But, I knew that change is kind of inevitable, 0:01:53.500,0:01:56.900 and I did want to come to the city when I[br]felt ready. 0:01:57.900,0:02:00.620 I've been teaching for, like, twelve years[br]or something 0:02:00.630,0:02:02.230 at Columbia University. 0:02:03.430,0:02:06.329 I started when I was also a veritable baby 0:02:06.329,0:02:09.098 and about the same age as many of the graduate[br]students, 0:02:09.098,0:02:11.038 and that was extremely awkward. 0:02:12.400,0:02:13.810 When I came to the city, 0:02:13.810,0:02:18.370 I felt like my newly forming ego and sense[br]of self 0:02:18.370,0:02:21.010 was just, like, torn to shreds. 0:02:21.529,0:02:23.730 I don't think I wanted to have the role 0:02:23.730,0:02:25.159 that I was hired for, 0:02:25.159,0:02:28.499 which was "a successful artist who was successful[br]at a young age," 0:02:28.499,0:02:30.409 "telling people how to get what I got." 0:02:32.180,0:02:35.120 But, I think I just accepted it this year, 0:02:35.129,0:02:37.809 that I must know something--it's been twenty[br]years. 0:02:45.219,0:02:46.439 I don't know what that something is, 0:02:46.439,0:02:47.709 but if I just keep talking, 0:02:47.709,0:02:50.120 then that something, you know, might slip[br]out. 0:02:50.120,0:02:51.199 [Frieze Art Fair, New York, NY] 0:02:51.199,0:02:52.849 There's no diploma in the world that, 0:02:52.849,0:02:54.519 you know, declares you as an artist-- 0:02:54.519,0:02:56.169 it's not like becoming a doctor, or something. 0:02:56.169,0:02:57.779 Like, you can declare yourself an artist 0:02:57.779,0:03:00.359 and then figure out how to be an artist. 0:03:07.080,0:03:11.799 It's a different art world than the one that[br]I stepped into. 0:03:12.480,0:03:14.260 It does seem to be bigger. 0:03:14.269,0:03:16.400 There's more distractions, in a way, 0:03:16.400,0:03:19.080 from the process of making one's own work. 0:03:20.209,0:03:22.959 The pressure to, kind of, conform to a particular 0:03:22.959,0:03:26.379 grad school pedigree is problematic. 0:03:26.380,0:03:28.680 And I think a lot of people feel that way. 0:03:30.520,0:03:34.239 It's, like, a reality that artists are selling[br]work 0:03:34.239,0:03:38.659 in order to pay back massive debt from these[br]M.F.A. programs. 0:03:38.659,0:03:42.709 But, I did tell my students, not too long[br]ago, 0:03:42.709,0:03:43.579 that they have to--and will-- 0:03:43.579,0:03:44.699 change the art world 0:03:44.699,0:03:47.199 from the moment they step into it. 0:03:47.900,0:03:50.260 Like, if it means prioritizing, you know, 0:03:50.260,0:03:52.660 critical discourse over objects, 0:03:52.660,0:03:54.680 or products, or something like that. 0:03:54.680,0:03:55.859 Then, if that's what you want, 0:03:55.859,0:03:57.979 then you have to, kind of, make it happen. 0:03:57.979,0:04:00.409 And if it's too expensive to make it happen[br]right here, 0:04:00.409,0:04:04.729 then you have to make it happen in the place[br]where you can, 0:04:04.729,0:04:07.549 and don't think of that as any kind of demotion. 0:04:09.299,0:04:11.139 If you can look at the negatives as a student 0:04:11.139,0:04:13.409 and see what needs to be changed, 0:04:13.409,0:04:16.428 then you have to do that.