Keys to the Coop
<p>Kara Walker’s use of silhouettes is inspired by the folk tradition commonly practiced by “proper ladies,” particularly during the years leading up to the Civil War. By loading her images with sexual content, mythological undertones, and voodoo symbolism, Walker subverts the gentle tradition by grafting onto it her contemporary point of view that the slave girl uses her sexuality as the key to her release: the key to the chicken coop that she dangles from her finger implies this. Like her masters over her, she holds the freedom of this chicken in the palm of her hand.</p>
Catalogue
- Year
- 1997
- Dimensions
- 117.5 × 153.8 cm (46 5/16 × 60 9/16 in.)
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
More
More by this artist
The Hero with 1000 Diagnosable Disorders
2024 · Watercolor and ink on paper cut and pasted on paper
No Land in Sight
2024 · Watercolor and pencil on paper
Untitled from the series The Gross Clinician Presents: Pater Gravidam
2018 · Lithograph
Christ's Entry into Journalism
2017 · Ink and pencil on paper, cut-and-pasted on painted paper
40 Acres of Mules
2015 · Charcoal on three sheets of paper
African Boy Attendant Curio with Molasses and Brown Sugar, from "The Marvelous Sugar Baby" Installation at the old Domino Sugar Factory Warehouse (Front Basket)
2014 · Cast pigmented polyester resin with polyurethane coating (optionally with molasses and brown sugar)
Record
Verified by WattsOS- Year
- 1997
- Dimensions
- 117.5 × 153.8 cm (46 5/16 × 60 9/16 in.)
- Watts ID
- WW-1997-118542
Source
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Source
- aic
- Reference
- View at source
- Status
- verified