Kara Walker: The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, January 12-February 23, 1997

Walker's silhouette images and drawings confront America's legacy of racial exploitation with unflinching clarity. Depicting acts of psychosexual violence in the antebellum south and revealing the depth of hatred behind racial stereotypes, her art uses history as a foil to create unforgettable images born from our collectively repressed psyche. Based on one of Walker's working notebooks, this publication is a privileged glimpse into the artist's mind. The splendidly designed book expands exponentially beyond Walker's well-recognized aesthetic of silhouettes to include watercolor drawings, photocopies and the threatening violence of the inspired tirade clumsily rendered on an antiquated typewriter. The copious number of writings offer artist's statements, fictional sketches, psychotic rants, vignettes and poesy in a wonderfully convoluted and fragmentary collection of little events as complicated as our nations historical memory. The book also features lush installation views of her sil