A recent installation at the New York Historical Society, Legacy: Contemporary Artists Reflect on Slavery, struck me as an emotionally gripping exhibit that is worth revisiting.  The show, featuring work from contemporary African American artists, taps into the racially-charged structures of slavery that have shaped America's history. More important, it provides viewers with a means to consider the legacy of African American injustice in past and present society.

The first artist that struck me was Kara Walker.  Her work raises provocative questions about race in America. In Emancipation Approximation, a series of twenty-seven prints done in 2000, Walker presents an interpretation of Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. In the six prints displayed, set in the Antebellum South, Walker uses silhouetted black paper cut outs to touch upon race, gender, sexuality, and identity--particularly in African American women. In one print, Walker motions to Greek mythology, referring to Leda and the Swan, where Zeus, under the guise of a swan, seduces Leda against her will.  In conjunction with this, Walker uses the African American trickster tales of Uncle Remus: Stories of the Fox and Rabbit. The term "uncle," used by whites for elderly black men in the South, was, and still is, patronizing and offensive.  It seems that Walker's use of these references can be connected to the rape and destruction of the wills and rights of African Americans during slavery.

Another print in the series depicts an African American woman on her knees.  She has just given birth to two babies. With the umbilical cord still attached, she reproves one infant that stands up reaching for her, while the lifeless body of the other is about to be stepped on by a young girl. Perhaps this piece conveys the reality of the high mortality rate of children during slavery. It also speaks to the unfairness of child labor, suggesting children were put to work as soon as they could walk. The kids lose out on a real childhood. I also see how in black communities today, the nurturing foundation of family is replaced with the cultivating "love" of gang life and drugs. Thoughts about the consequence or repercussions of destructive action are second to the lust for quasi-success and the charms, the "bling," attached to such status.

One print that truly strikes a chord depicts a black silhouette of a woman in tattered dress holding up a white silhouette of a woman in colonial dress. At first glance, it seems the piece reinforces the stereotype that a black woman was subservient to her white mistress. Looking deeper, however, it can convey the segregation of black women within their own race and the difference in their standing. The black silhouette may represent dark skinned women standing in a field, which could explain the tattered look of her dress. The white silhouette happens to have distinctive black features, big lips, round nose, and an "afro" hairstyle, which suggests the light-skinned black woman who had the "privilege" to work in the house with their mistresses on the plantation. Naturally, I looked at it in terms of race. Culturally, it is the norm to see the ongoing battle of black versus white, but what is rarely seen is the struggle between the hues of "Black-ness."  The discrimination is prevalent when it comes to complexion. As a dark-skinned woman coming from a family of predominantly light skinned women, I have always felt this difference. Perhaps this is an individual prejudice within myself, or maybe it is a more universal feeling within dark skinned women who are looked at as inferior to black women with lighter skin.  It has taken me years to come to grips with this feeling of discrimination within my own race.  That Walker could evoke these feelings truly speaks to the power of her work.

Heirlooms and Accessories, Kerry James Marshall

Kerry James Marshall's Heirlooms and Accessories (2002) touches on race, politics, and contemporary society.  The emotional charge in Marshall’s work parallels that of Walker's.  At first glace, each panel of this triptych portrays a different beautiful locket containing an image of a white woman. Each locket is made from either gold, silver, or pearl, and is used as a device to frame the portraits of the women.  However, one finds grotesque images hidden in each panel when looked at more closely.  A superimposed likeness of a lynching emerges from the background, juxtaposing the false nature of appearance with the horror of such a violent crime.  This suggests white women's complicity in horrific racial events often associated only with men.

Portraits, often only acquired by people of higher economic stature, were meant to preserve one’s likeness for generations to come--like heirlooms--creating a lasting legacy.  This legacy, Marshall suggests, is not found in the family tree but rather in the act of lynching itself. Lynching is an integral part of African American history and a part of our culture's legacy.  Just as women wore these lockets to adorn themselves and show economic status, the noose that was placed around the necks of thousands of black men and women was their only accessory, not to beautify, but to signify a lost legacy.

Another ironic twist of this work is in its connection to the present. Each of the three prints has a white frame with diamond trim. One can make the connection that the precious materials used in the jewelry and frame (i.e. gold, silver, pearls, and diamonds) are used to show wealth and status. Yet most of these materials are found and mined in Africa where Africans are forced--even killed--to mine in order for others to make money. I stood, transfixed by this particular piece, not able to move, as if my feet were rooted to the floor. I searched each image looking between the lockets, the lynching, and the expressions on the women’s faces. I was searching for something I may have overlooked at first glace. I was angry and found myself asking how anyone could do this to another human being and watch as if it were entertainment.  And then I remembered, blacks were not seen as human. They were seen as animals and treated as such. Before I knew what was happening, I had tears in my eyes. It was at this moment that I experienced the aesthetic impact of Marshall's work. I looked around the room and saw others engrossed in different works, presumably for different reasons. Though I had been taught before about the subjective nature of art, and the power of different works to move different people, I had never experienced something like this. As both a viewer and a participant, coming across this type of art that is relatable to everyday life and experiences, experiences that have affected the past and a view of the future, I felt the power art can have over one’s perceptions and ideas about who one is as an individual and as a part of society.

Overall, the images in the exhibition were graphic, and somehow horrifically beautiful in their representation and message. This exhibition emphasizes the disparity of the past and how it still impacts American culture today.  Racial tension continually permeates our everyday interactions, both with the external world and within our own cultures.  Though the legacy presented at the Historical Society is not a cheerful one, it is vital to preserve these images and ideas in our minds as we move forward.