Just ahead of her major site-specific installation opening July 2024 at SFMOMA, artist Kara Walker talks to Doreen St. Félix.
Widely regarded as one of the most important living American artists, Kara Walker has investigated race, gender, sexuality, and violence through installations, paintings, silhouettes, and films. Walker’s art has won awards and is collected by museums around the world. Her work with stereotypes and the history of racial violence has pushed viewers to confront the continuing violence against Black people in America. With beloved writer Jamaica Kincaid, winner of the American Book Award, Walker is publishing An Encyclopedia of Gardening for Colored Children, a brilliant collection of essays and illustrations revealing the beauty of the natural world and the terrible history of colonialism. Next year, SFMOMA is releasing a site-specific installation by Walker, focusing on the global loss due to COVID-19, trauma, and technology.
Doreen St. Félix is a staff writer for The New Yorker and was named to Forbes Magazine 30 Under 30 list. She has also been published in The New York Times Magazine and Pitchfork.
Photo by Ari Marcopoulos