The Seattle Times' Gayle Clemans explores the exhibition Emancipating the Past: Kara Walker's Tales of Slavery and Power and its relevancy to today's social issues. Observing that the exhibition opened at Bellevue Arts Museum at a time when racial issues are at the forefront of American current events, Clemans writes, "Clearly, sadly, Kara Walker’s images of violence, power imbalance, and racial tension — drawn from the pre-Civil War South — are still relevant today."
Two of Walker's most powerful print series, Emancipation Approximation and Harper's Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated), are featured in the exhibition. "Lithographs, etchings, linocuts, and screen prints (...) have allowed Walker to flex her technical muscles and expand her narratives," Clemans notes.
The exhibition is drawn from the collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation and is on view now through November 27th.
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