Kara Walker | Art21 | Preview from Season 2 of "Art in the Twenty-First Century" (2003)

Kara Walker's work explores the raw intersection of race, gender, and sexuality through iconic, silhouetted figures. Walker unleashes the traditionally Victorian medium of the silhouette directly onto the walls of the gallery. In recent works, the Walker uses overhead projectors to throw light onto the walls and floor of the exhibition space, implicating the audience through their own shadows.

Kara Walker's is featured in the Season 2 episode "Stories" of the Art21 series "Art:21 -- Art in the Twenty-First Century".

Learn more about Kara Walker: http://www.art21.org/artists/kara-walker

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A lot of my work has been about the unexpected

kind of wanting to be the heroine and yet wanting to kill the heroine at the same time.

And that kind of dilemma, that push and pull,

is the underlying turbulence that I bring to each of the pieces that I make.

The silhouette lends itself to, you know, a void inside the subject,

you know, not being able to look at it indirectly.