Saturday, June 14, 2014

Kyra Walker's "A Subtlety" Sculpture will soon be Gone With the Wind

There is nothing subtle or delicate about Kyra Walker's nude, sphinx like sculpture of a black slave woman.  The large scale installation in the soon to be demolished Domino sugar factory in Brooklyn stands  more than 35 ' tall & 75' in length.  I can only guess at the tonnage of processed sugar used to construct  "The Marvelous Sugar Baby," which is entirely white.  My notions were of a black slave regardless of its' white entirety?  My political incorrect assumptions were based on her large lips, enlarged nostrils, an outlandishly large buttocks & humongous, protuding breasts.  The sole garment is her headscarf; knotted in the fashion of the old Aunt Jamima packaging & the slave who tended Scarlett in "Gone With the Wind."  Leading up to this large sculpture are 15 life-size shapes of African-Amer. boys used as slave labor on sugar cane plantations.  These molasses sculptures are in varying stages of disintegration & shades of dark skin tones.  The plant exposes the installation to natural elements of weather.  Last night's rain showed the smaller sculptures mired in their own concoctions.   They all bore  implements used in the sugar cane fields.   Perhaps the lighter toned sculptures alluded to the integration of children born to slaves of their white oppressors.  Sugar Baby's sightless eyes and supine sexual position evoked ambiguous & opposing emotional responses.  "A Subtlety" appears powerful yet subjugated, dignified yet insolent, majestic yet perverse.  Our heritage of slavery is offensive, yet we must acknowledge it.  "A Subtlety" stands as an Eygptian sphinx, as a monument againstthe ownership of one over another.   We are constantly evolving,  stil racist attitudes must melt away.  The exhibit is free to the public; no tickets required.  However, "A Subtlety" will be gone with the wind as of July 6th; just after our Independence Day.  Also gone will be the Domino plant which will be razed and a new Carpetbagger will be taking control over the beautiful river front property.  

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