One of the youngest recipients of a MacArthur "Genius" grant, Kara Walker,
an African American artist, is best known for her iconic, often life-size,
black and white silhouetted figures, arranged in unsettling scenes on gallery
walls. These visually arresting narratives draw viewers into a dialogue about
the dynamics of race, sexuality, and violence in both the antebellum South and
contemporary culture. Walker's work has been featured in exhibits around the
world and in American museums including the Museum of Modern Art, the
Guggenheim, and the Whitney. At the same time, her ideologically provocative
images have drawn vociferous criticism from several senior African American
artists, and a number of her pieces have been pulled from exhibits amid
protests against their disturbing representations. Seeing the Unspeakable
provides a sustained consideration of the controversial art of Kara Walker.; Examining Walker's striking silhouettes, evocative gouache drawings, and
dynamic prints, Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw analyzes the inspiration for and elements
and reception of four of Walker's pieces: "The End of Uncle Tom and The Grand
Allegorical Tableau of Eva in Heaven," "John Brown," "A Means to an End," and
"Cut." She offers an overview of Walker's life and career, and contextualizes
her art within the history of African American visual culture and in relation
to the work of contemporary artists including Faith Ringgold, Carrie Mae Weems,
and Michael Ray Charles. Shaw describes how Walker deliberately challenges
viewers' sensibilities with radically desentimentalized images of slavery and
racial stereotypes. This book reveals a powerful artist who is questioning,
rather than accepting, the ideas and strategies of social responsibility that
her parents' generation fought to establish during the civil rights era. By
exploiting the racist icons of the past, Walker forces viewers to see the
unspeakable aspects of America's racist past and conflicted presen
