The Art Institute of Chicago now has its entry in discussions marking the sesquicentennial of the Emancipation Proclamation issued Jan. 1, 1863.
“Rise Up Ye Mighty Race,”2013, a new installation by famed US artist Kara Walker, reminds visitors of the horrors and stereotypes of the antebellum South.
Opened Feb. 21 and continuing through Aug. 11, 2013, Walker’s installation mixes paper silhouettes with large, framed, graphite drawings and small, mixed-media works that depict slavery, sexual violence and caricatures of Southern belles, mammies and other race-related figures.
The title is taken from President Barack Obama’s statements in his “Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance,” Times Books, 1995.
When explaining her use of silhouettes, Walker has said, "The silhouette says a lot with very little information, but that's also what the stereotype does."
Look for the installation in the Modern Wing’s Gallery 293.
For more Walker silhouettes, see her "Presenting Negro Scenes Drawn Upon My Passage through the South and Reconfigured for the Benefit of Enlightened Audiences Wherever Such may be Found,"1997, in the Museum of Contemporary Art’s “Color Bind” exhibit. The MCA's exhibit on the effective use of black and white to represent racial and other stories, is on view now through April 28, 2013.
For more Art Institute information visit visit AIC and call 312-433-3600. The Art Institute of Chicago is 111 S. Michigan Ave. at Adams Street, Chicago, IL 60603.
For more MCA information visit MCA Chicago and call 312-280-2660. The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is at 220 E. Chicago Ave., Chicago, IL 60611.
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