Symbols of Hatred in the Shadows - washingtonpost.com: Kara Walker, the celebrated African American conceptual artist, addresses issues related to race and racism in the ugliest of terms. In a world where the presence of a hangman's noose swaying from the limb of a Louisiana tree can incite violence, lopsided prosecutorial zeal and tear-choked demands for justice, Walker creates images so disturbing that they can shock a viewer dumb.
Walker, whose work is the subject of a retrospective at New York's Whitney Museum of American Art, doesn't approach racism with the detachment of a historian. But she is not the type to indulge in tearful catharsis or the egocentric bloviation that tends to flow out of the ubiquitous town hall meeting: Pass the mike and let me tell you how my suffering is worse than yours.
