Just over a year ago, when I discovered Kara Walker. I was instantly impressed by her 35ft tall sugar sculpture (or ‘subtlety’) of a sphinx. The sheer scale and beauty of this monumental depiction of the female form is impressive in itself, but it's the politics that really draws me to this fantastic work.
Being a black american woman, Walker sought to create art to reflect the struggles and history of her heritage. The very name 'A Subtlety' can be said to mirror the way black and female artists have been side-lined by western art society simply due to the form in which they were born. 'Subtle' (whilst alluding to the placement of black artists) is also wildly ironic when placed next to the sculpture which it entitles. There is nothing visually subtle about a 35ft tall 75ft long sculpture of a nude woman made out of sugar. Walkers naming of her installation piece is inherently poetic; even more so is the full subtitled version - 'The Marvelous Sugar Baby: An Homage to the unpaid and overworked Artisans who have refined our Sweet tastes from the cane fields to the Kitchens of the New World on the Occasion of the demolition of the Domino Sugar Refining Plant'
Such a long title does well to encompass much of what this piece is about, whilst still only scratching the surface. Walker appears unafraid to voice the past and show its relevance to the present by exhibiting this sphinx and her companions in an existing sugar factory in New York - or 'Cathedral of Industry' as the artist puts it.
Kara Walkers 'Marvelous Sugar Baby'
The way the sphinx stands so strong, so massive, so imposing, gives off a powerful aura. It a reminder, a demand, that the past is not to be forgotten. She is a guardian of remembrance and an advocate for social justice. Her exaggerated curves and features show her as an undeniably black female - exaggerated characteristics are a running artistic theme in Walkers work. The sphinx cannot be mistaken or overlooked like the people she stands for.
Surrounding the sphinx are 15 smaller sugar sculptures of young black boys carrying baskets. These children show a different side than the sphinx - one of vulnerability and woe. They are small and skinny, and their faces show expressions of sadness and desperation (mirrored in the melting deterioration of the sugar over time in the form of sugar tears). Even the posture of the little children is in dismay, with their heads slightly bowed and their backs leaning under the weight of their work They stand in almost complete contrast the great sphinx they rally to. The companion sculptures emanate another kind of subtlety, standing small, meek, and overshadowed by the sphinx.
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