no world

Currently not on view

no world

2010

Kara Walker (American, born 1969) Printed by Burnet Editions, New York

In her series of six etchings An Unpeopled Land in Uncharted Waters, Walker constructs enigmatic images that reflect on the traumatic history of the transatlantic slave trade and its legacy of violence and racial strife. In no world, one of two prints from the series on view here, Walker ambiguously alludes to the futile prospects for slaves who were shipped to the Americas. With no real hope of freedom, the woman submerged in the ocean might be swimming in an attempt to escape, or drowning as a victim of shipwreck. Meanwhile, the caricatured figures on shore suggest an unsettling future for those who survive the treacherous journey.

Currently not on view

Object Details

Titles:

no world
From the series An Unpeopled Land in Uncharted Waters

Date:

2010

Artists:

Kara Walker (American, born 1969) Printed by Burnet Editions, New York

Medium:

Lift-ground and spitbite aquatint, and drypoint

Dimensions:

Plate: 24 x 35 3/4 inches (61 x 90.8 cm) Sheet: 30 1/4 x 39 5/16 inches (76.8 x 99.9 cm)

Classification:

Prints

Credit Line:

Purchased with the Marion Stroud Fund for Contemporary Art on Paper, 2010

Accession Number:

2010-142-1

Geography:

Printed in New York, New York, United States, North and Central America

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Currently not on view