Yesterdayness in America Today
- Year2020
- Material2 parts; graphite and watercolor on paper
- Dimensions365.8 x 221.9 cm
- Year of acquisition2022
- Inventory numberUAB 1308
- On viewGround floor
- Copyright© Kara Walker
More about the artwork
With large steps and a pain-distorted face, a Black woman dressed only in shoes strides forward. Full of despair, ruffling her hair, she throws her head back. Behind her, an equally naked Black man kneels with his hands clasped behind his head, as if he were about to be arrested. From the background, a ghostly figure points a sugarcane at her; to the right, a rock musician bawls, merging Elvis Presley with Donald Trump. Half vision, half nightmare, Kara Walker’s monumental drawing “Yesterdayness in America Today” (2020) reflects on how the history of enslavement, as well as present-day discrimination and violence, define the living conditions of Black people in the United States. The present, Walker argues, can only be understood by reflecting on the history of power relations: “My work has always been a time machine catapulting me backward across decades and centuries to arrive at some understanding of my ‘place’ in the contemporary moment.”
