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Busby Women in Art Paper #2

Appropriation of Stereotypes in the Work of Kara Walker An Analysis of “Reading Black Through White in the Work of Kara Walker: A discussion between Michael Corris and Robert Hobbs” Kate Palisay

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1 Kara Walker, Presenting Negro Scenes Drawn Upon My Passage Through the South and Reconfigured for the Benefit of Enlightened Audiences Wherever Such May Be Found, By Myself, Missus K.E.B Walker, Colored,” 1997. The Renaissance Society at The University of Chicago.

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In their essay, “Reading Black Through White in the Work of Kara Walker,” art historians

Michael Corris and Robert Hobbs attempt to dissect the criticism the African-American artist has received for her use of stereotypes in her silhouette pieces. Formatted as a discussion between the two authors, the essay seeks to refute claims that Walker’s representations of black stereotypes in her figures play into the power structures that have historically oppressed

African-Americans. They argue instead that Walker intentionally forces her viewers to confront those stereotypes and relate them to their own identities and experiences of self. While I am in agreement with their analysis of Walker’s artistic message, I find their argument to be inarticulate or unnecessarily complex at times, particularly in the voice used by Hobbs in his responses to questions posed by Corris. The important ideas proposed in this article about

Walker’s work deserve to be teased out with greater attention to clarity, comprehension, and widespread impact.

Critics of Walker’s work have denounced the use of the stereotypically African features that have long played a role in the oppression of African Americans by the artist in her silhouette pieces. These critics view these portrayals of such stereotypes as a form of repression, playing into the hands of “The White Man,” who, according to bell hooks,

“everywhere seeks to establish the conditions where actual and symbolic oppression returns to thwart the aspirations of African-Americans. The stereotype, in effect, becomes a material fact in the ongoing repression of the African-American, a denial of her humanity.”2 This evaluation

2 Michael Corris and Robert Hobbs, “Reading Black Through White in the Work of Kara Walker,” Art History 26, no. 3 (June 2003): 425. http://libgateway.susqu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&d b=a9h&AN=10302785&site=ehost-live (accessed March 21, 2016). Palisay 3 could not be further from the reality of Walker’s work, according to Corris and Hobbs. In her appropriation of stereotypes propagated by a white society about blacks, Walker as an African-

American artist forces her audience to confront the uncomfortable subject of our ideas about race. The authors argue that Walker’s use of stereotypes in her silhouettes demands that the viewer acknowledge the existence of such institutionalized ideas about race and as a result, can recognize and reflect on how these stereotypes have played a role in their existence and consciousness.3 As such, the authors’ principal argument is that Walker’s shaded figures are the exact opposite of repressed, as her critics would have it. According to Hobbs, “Instead of begging for acknowledgement, they are blatantly disruptive in their attempts to supplant reality through shock.”4

Critical to the authors’ argument is the notion that all of Walker’s artistic choices have important meaning and context that add greater depth to her subject. Her choices in both scenery and medium have historically significant sources. Walker’s silhouettes replicate familiar imagery for a general audience, drawing from popular sources of the Antebellum South.5

According to Hobbs, “Her textual insurrection and redirection is chiasmic and appropriative; it is also a form of signifying because mainstream productions are being doubles in order to parody them and unfold a black perspective.”6 This unique perspective is a way for the audience to consider the contemporary world and its continuing issues of race and identity through the lens of another time period.7 Walker’s use of the silhouette as her medium is another example of

3 Ibid, 426-8. 4 Ibid, 440. 5 Ibid, 438. 6 Ibid. 7 Ibid, 435. Palisay 4 the artist’s appropriation of upper class (read: white) popular culture, as it came into fashion in the 19th century. The discipline of physiognomy and the ensuing use of the silhouette by artists helped to indoctrinate racist stereotypes, as it was grounded in the belief that “the profile was considered to be closer to the level of ultimate Forms than the incidental accidents of symmetry or its lack because it was credited with reflecting formative psychic energies.”8

Further, the popularity of the silhouette was based on the belief that such portrayals had the

“ability to go beyond capturing a given sitter’s physical likeness to convey a sense of his or her essential being.”9 Evidently, physical characteristics that convey a European profile are superior to those that portray an African silhouette. The modern viewer of this codified and racist imagery in contemporary works of art is conditioned to react by displaying a rejection of these stereotypes, but it is impossible to separate the visual language we have come to understand within our culture and society from how we read images and form ideas about them. In addition to creating a dialogue about stereotypes assigned to physical features, Walker’s choice in medium also provides critical commentary on America’s history of slavery. All figures that appear in these works are rendered in the same black silhouettes, regardless of ethnicity. The authors argue that such a choice implies that “the institution of slavery is itself a shadowy realm that joins together all those participating in it.”10

Although their article is clearly intended for peers in their field and other readers with extensive art historical knowledge, Corris and Hobbs’ use of overly complicated language does not necessarily strengthen their argument. Rather, it at times does a disservice to their thesis

8 Ibid, 438-9. 9 Ibid. 10 Ibid. Palisay 5 by clouding it in distracting fluff. For example, when Corris relates Walker’s work to a piece by

Cady Noland for both artists’ depiction of abjection in their work, Hobbs’ wordy response includes the argument that “The ensuing destabilized abject realm becomes a virtual Garden of

Delights on par with Hieronymus Bosch’s, in which couplings are less intended to constitute straightforward descriptions of orgiastic sex – although shock value does play an important role in characterizing the miasma of abjection – and more like symbolic references to the obfuscation resulting in an undermining of the established order of clearly defined stereotypes.”11 Many more of Hobbs’ statements read in a similar tone, conveying elitism and thus distracting the reader from the actual scholarly content of the article. Portions of the article in which Hobbs chooses to use more concise language are significantly more successful in supporting his argument. This is particularly relevant given the authors’ classification of their essay as a “dialogue.” While they support their discussion and arguments with a number of references that draw from both art historical texts and black or African-American scholarship, proving their article is well-researched and not mere conjecture, by calling it a dialogue, they imply that the tone will read as more conversational than comparable academic essays. The format of a dialogue between two experts of their fields can be an effective way to argue one’s thesis, but it demands the use of a voice that is more familiar and accessible than the ones used by Corris and Hobbs.

Kara Walker’s works in silhouette have prompted meaningful discussions about the history of racial stereotypes in the United States and the profound, if subtle, role they continue

11 Ibid, 425.

Palisay 6 to play in the oppression of African-Americans today. The arguments raised by critics of

Walker’s work should not be discounted, as they have asked important questions about the dynamics of prejudice and power, and have influenced scholars such as Michael Corris and

Robert Hobbs to delve into the intricate layers of meaning found in Walker’s work. Their essay argues that the artist has not submitted herself to her own repression by a privileged and powerful white society, but rather has appropriated the stereotypes that have always existed in popular culture and repurposed them through a voice that empowers black Americans.12 Her silhouettes ask their audience to “take hold of this stereotype, to emblematize it, and to fantasize through it. Don’t turn away from it; rather, recognize it as a profound part of your being and consciousness as an African-American.”13 Despite a strong and well-supported argument, the authors’ article falls short in its presentation of this thesis by delivering it in a voice that can read as elitist and disengaged. Even with this shortcoming, if a reader can sift through the excesses of the authors’ language, “Reading Black Through White in the Work of

Kara Walker” presents an intelligent and unique approach to dissecting the author’s appropriation of stereotypes in her work.

12 Ibid, 438. 13 Ibid, 426-8. Palisay 7

Works Cited

Corris, Michael and Robert Hobbs. “Reading Black Through White in the Work of Kara Walker.”

Art History 26, no. 3 (June 2003): 422-441.

http://libgateway.susqu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=t

rue&db=a9h&AN=10302785&site=ehost-live (accessed March 21, 2016).

Walker, Kara. Presenting Negro Scenes Drawn Upon My Passage Through the South and

Reconfigured for the Benefit of Enlightened Audiences Wherever Such May Be Found, By

Myself, Missus K.E.B Walker, Colored,” 1997. The Renaissance Society at The University

of Chicago.