Por Pablo Arranz 
The Museum of Contemporary Art of Alicante (MACA) hosts «the largest exhibition» of American artist Kara Walker ever held in Spain, addressing themes such as slavery, race, and identity. It opens this Friday and will be available for viewing until September 7.
The exhibition ‘Kara Walker. Burning Village’, which traces the trajectory of this artist over the last four decades, was presented on Wednesday by the Councilor of Culture, Antonio Peral, the curator of the exhibition, Rosa María Castells, and the collector Javier Romero, whose donation to the museum, along with Michael Jenkins, comprises the majority of the works on display, as reported by the City Council in a statement.
Walker is one of the «most prominent and interesting artists of her generation on the international art scene, with a complex body of work that analyzes issues of race, identity, power, and desire in scenes, sometimes chaotic, always used as systems of oppression and subjugation, across centuries and continents.»
The exhibition brings together numerous works by Kara Walker from the Michael Jenkins and Javier Romero collection at MACA. In total, it consists of 44 pieces that cover part of her career and constitute one of the most extensive sets of the artist’s work in European institutions.
The display includes drawings, prints, sculptures, artist books, and one of her most recent videos. It comprises 31 works donated to MACA in 2021 by Jenkins and Romero, and 13 pieces deposited in 2024 for this exhibition, which have traveled from New York. All of them are dated from 1996 to her latest animated film, which is exhibited courtesy of the artist.
Peral emphasized the importance of Alicante and MACA hosting the largest exhibition to date in Spain «of one of the most relevant contemporary artists on the international scene.»
«Her work, always committed to themes such as violence or slavery, allows us to talk in a cross-cutting way about human rights. MACA once again places Alicante on the cultural map, not only nationally but also internationally, with an exhibition of undeniable quality and interest,» he praised.
«NECESSARY, HARSH, AND BEAUTIFUL WORK»
Castells, on the other hand, highlighted the importance of Walker, «with necessary, essential, and suggestive work.» «It is forceful, harsh, and, at the same time, beautifully formal,» she pointed out.
The curator noted that the work of the American artist «has so many readings and nuances that enrich the discourse and cannot leave the viewer indifferent.»
«This exhibition places the museum as an institution in current debates, in the critical reflection of a world almost in flames. Michael Jenkins and Javier Romero donated their art collection to MACA with the conviction of the relevance it could have for the museum, and indeed it does, as the collection allows for investigation, display, and reflection on the contemporary world,» she emphasized.
Additionally, Romero added that Walker, «one of the most prominent international artists of recent decades, is delighted with this exhibition at MACA.»
«Her work, found in the most important museums and collections worldwide, delves into significant political, social, and historical issues, while formally being visually beautiful,» he asserted.
Romero further stated that this artist «has opened doors in the art world for many creators of racial, gender, and identity minorities, thus breaking with the prevailing canons for centuries in museums and art institutions.» «She is a reference and essential artist,» he indicated, before apologizing for Jenkins, who could not attend the presentation.
SATIRE AND ARCHETYPES
Walker was born in Stockton, California, in 1969 and grew up in Atlanta. She graduated from the Atlanta College of Art in 1991 and obtained a master’s degree from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1994. She has received numerous awards, including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship Award (1997) and the United States Artists Eileen Harris Norton Fellowship (2008). She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2012 and was named an honorary academician of the Royal Academy of Arts in London in 2019.
Her work addresses themes of violence, identity, race, and sexuality in the context of the still prevalent psychological wound caused by the tragic legacy of slavery, presenting a critical view of historical past and examining racial and gender stereotypes in our current society.
Known for her work in cut paper silhouettes, inspired by the historical tradition of Victorian shadow portraits, shadow theater, or magic lanterns, Walker uses the language of satire and archetypes to reveal the contradictions of a nation’s self-concept, while casting a very lucid subversive look at the historical and artistic allusions that influence her works.
Through drawing, printmaking, sculpture, video, and installation, the artist explores the representation of the concept of race in modern and contemporary art, as well as the need to establish new narratives that challenge the way we look at and understand history.
The images in Walker’s work, drawn from both historical realism and the fantastical realm of the imagined, «seduce with their emotional intensity, the intellectual strength they harbor, and their extraordinary visual beauty,» as stated by the council.
Her work has been exhibited in various institutions and is represented in museums and public collections such as The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York; Tate Modern in London; Centre Pompidou in Paris; Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles; Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt; Museo Nazionale delle Art del XXI Secolo (Maxxi) in Rome; The Menil Collection in Houston; The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; British Museum in London; Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto; Kunstmuseum Basel; Magasin III in Stockholm; Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; Museum voor Moderne Kunst in the Netherlands; Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington DC, and Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.