From the exhibition: Birthing Bodies (September 30 – December 30, 2017)
At first, Kara Walker’s Freedom, a Fable—A Curious Interpretation of the Wit of a Negress in Troubled Times recalls the style of a children’s pop-up book, eliciting feelings of innocence and sweetness. As with much of Walker’s work, it seduces viewers with visually stimulating, seemingly whimsical silhouettes, then confronts them in uncomfortable and disagreeable ways with issues of race, class, gender, and sexuality.
Walker’s book tells the story of N— a black female slave freed following the Civil War. Despite the promise of emancipation, N— continues to face the abuse of her owner and dreams of returning to Africa. In the final scene, N— lies on the ground giving birth. She smokes a corncob pipe as she effortlessly bears her son, a condescending suggestion that childbirth comes naturally to such a character. Walker’s depiction of N— recalls white stereotypes of black people as animals and the manipulative practice of “slave breeding.” During the nineteenth century, slaveholders exploited female slaves’ reproductive sexuality for economic benefit.
Ultimately, Walker’s title—Freedom, a Fable—poses a thought-provoking paradox. A fable is a fictional story used to teach children a morality lesson; at the same time, a fable may denote an untruth or falsehood. If Walker is referring to “freedom” as a fable, she may be suggesting that freedom is not only unlikely, but unachievable for African American women in the United States. Conversly, perhaps the book is a fable through which we can try to better understand the meaning of freedom. By focusing on black women’s complicated relationship with freedom in the past, Walker urges reflection on the steps we, as a nation, have taken to assure freedom for all, but more importantly, the steps we still must take to make that freedom a reality.
—Emma Foley, Mollie Welch
From the exhibition: Hope and Anger — The Civil Rights Movement and Beyond (October 11, 2014 – February 15, 2015)
From the exhibition: We Will Control the Vertical (August 20 – December 4, 2016)