A Deep Dive into Kara Walker's 'Slaughter of the Innocents' Art Work

This essay provides an analysis of Kara Walker's artwork, 'Slaughter of the Innocents,' focusing on its dominant visual elements, design principles, and symbolism. The artwork, created using cut papers, acrylic, and graphite on canvas, depicts stereotypical mindsets prevalent during the Antebellum era, portraying violence, mourning, and subjection resulting from erotic power and the dark history of slavery. The essay discusses Kara Walker's background as a contemporary American artist exploring issues of gender, race, sexuality, identity, and violence. It examines the artist's intention to reflect upon the historic inequalities faced by Black Americans, reminding viewers of the dark history of slavery and its impact on humanity. The author shares their personal impression of the artwork, emphasizing its vital purpose in reminding society of the atrocities of the past and preventing their repetition in the future.

Running head: Slaughter of the Innocents
Slaughter of the Innocents
-Kara Walker (1969)
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1Slaughter of the innocents
Description of the piece: dominant visual elements, design principles, and symbolisms
associated with the piece:
The art was made using cut papers, acrylic and graphite on a canvas. The dimensions
of the canvas are: 79 X 220 inches or 200.7 X 558.8 centimeters. The cut papers forms a
series of silhouettes that shows the stereotypical mindsets prevalent in the Antebellum era.
The canvas provides a powerful story of violence and the mourning and subjection caused by
it and by erotic power. In the process of cutting and pasting different images, the artist
combined different drawing styles, apart from combining different times and histories. The
art involves much harsh and despotic imagery of black people, running from ropes, impaled
on branches, being disemboweled or swallowed in utter darkness. There are also imageries of
a three headed snake; two while men sharing the body of a headless, naked black woman
with a knife in her belly. It pains a painful picture of the misery subjugated on the Black
people during the times of slavery (mfah.org).
History of the Artist:
Kara Walker was born on November 26th, 1969 in Stockton, California. She is a
contemporary American artist whose art explores issues on gender, race, sexuality, identity
and violence. Currently she is serving as Tepper Chair at Mason Gross School of the Arts,
Rutgers University in the field of visual arts (theartstory.org).
Why did the artist create this piece?
The art was created to reflect upon the historic inequalities faced by the Black
American people, being subjugated to slavery, and being deprived of their basic human rights
and dignity. The art is meant to remind us of the dark history that is slowly being overlooked

2Slaughter of the innocents
these days (Smith). The art points out that the nighmarish scenes are a part of our own history
(Thomas).
My Impression of the art piece:
This art piece serves a vital purpose of reminding us of the darkness that engulfed our
societies, as one class of people subjugated, objectified, undermined and enslaved by another
class of people, solely based on their skin colors. The age of colonization and slavery showed
a dark side of humanity and human’s greed for power and authority. Slaves were considered
less than humans, and treated as such, and the art shows exactly that image. No wonder,
many have shown exasperation and shock on this art piece, however, I believe such is the
intention of the artist that is to deliver a shocking image of the past. Also, with the gradual
improvement in our society, and an increasing sense of equality, many feel disconnected with
the dark past of slavery. The art serves to remind them, and never let humanity forget such
atrocities, so that we may never repeat them in the future.

3Slaughter of the innocents
References:
mfah.org. "Slaughter Of The Innocents (They Might Be Guilty Of Something) | The Museum
Of Fine Arts, Houston". Mfah.Org, 2018, https://www.mfah.org/art/detail/137056?returnUrl=
%2Fart%2Fsearch. Accessed 22 Apr 2018.
Smith, Roberta. "Kara Walker Traces Slavery’S Bitter Legacy With New Ways Of
Drawing". Nytimes.Com, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/07/arts/kara-walker-
sikkema-jenkins.html. Accessed 22 Apr 2018.
theartstory.org. "Kara Walker Biography, Art, And Analysis Of Works". The Art Story, 2018,
http://www.theartstory.org/artist-walker-kara.htm. Accessed 22 Apr 2018.
Thomas, Selin. "Kara Walker’S Nightmares Are Our Own". The Paris Review, 2017,
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2017/10/04/kara-walkers-nightmares/. Accessed 22 Apr
2018.