They Waz Nice White Folks While They Lasted (Sez One Gal to Another)

They Waz Nice White Folks While They Lasted (Sez One Gal to Another)

Artist	Kara Walker
Year	2001 (2001)
Type	installation art
Dimensions	430 cm × 430 cm × 610 cm (168 in × 168 in × 240 in)
Location	Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis

They Waz Nice White Folks While They Lasted (Sez One Gal to Another) is a 2001 installation artwork by American artist Kara Walker, located at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, which is in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America. It consists of paper cutouts forming a strange tableau with the projected image of a steamboat.^[1]

Description

The installation consists of an overhead projector casting the image of steamboat on the gallery wall, with a variety of bizarre silhouettes performing strange actions in front of it. A woman with hoof-like feet stands next to a woman holding a bust over her head, and a boy with a battleship on his head is beside a woman whose grotesquely malformed baby is tumbling off her back. She waves her handkerchief to a couple on the steamboat itself, a woman holding a uniformed man at gunpoint. The light of the projector causes the shadows of viewers to be cast upon the wall as well, entangling them in the artwork.^[2]

Background information

Walker reappropriates the cut-paper silhouettes crafted by proper ladies in the nineteenth century to create strange tableaux from antebellum romance novels and slave narratives.^[2] They Waz Nice White Folks While They Lasted is actually one of her less disturbing works, which can feature images of rape, murder, and torture. Although she has received many letters protesting her use of images conveying negative African American stereotypes, Walker responds that their controversial nature is the very thing that makes them worthy of discussion.^[3]

Location history

They Waz Nice White Folks While They Lasted first appeared in Walker's third solo show in New York, a 2001 exhibit in the Brent Sikkema gallery in Chelsea called "American Primitive." That show marked the first time her signature silhouettes appeared with projected backgrounds.^[4] In 2002, it was acquired by the IMA, a gift of the Contemporary Art Society, and given the acquisition number 2002.1. It is currently on view in the Carolyn M. Schaefer & John B. Gray Jr. Gallery.^[1]

References

1 2 "They Waz Nice White Folks While They Lasted (Sez One Gal to Another)". Indianapolis Museum of Art. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
1 2 Lee, Ellen Wardwell; Robinson, Anne (2005). Indianapolis Museum of Art: Highlights of the Collection. Indianapolis: Indianapolis Museum of Art. ISBN 0936260777.
↑ Gao, Yaping. "Social Protest/Affirmation". Broward College. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
↑ Smith, Roberta (28 Sep 2001). "ART IN REVIEW; Kara Walker -- 'American Primitive'". New York Times. Retrieved 26 September 2012.

External links

IMA page.

Indianapolis Museum of Art

Significant
Artworks

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Contemporary Art	Acton Courre Merlan Egyptian Barnyard LOVE painting LOVE (sculpture) The Quintet of the Silent They Waz Nice White Folks While They Lasted (Sez One Gal to Another) Untitled Landfield Untitled Judd Untitled Irwin

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European Painting and Sculpture to 1945	Aristotle Battle Between Carnival and Lent Breton Women at a Wall Broek in Waterland Charing Cross Bridge Crucifix Crucifixion Enclosed Field with Peasant Entry of Christ into Jerusalem Entry of Christ into Jerusalem House in Provence Landscape near Arles Ma Jolie Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist and St. Mary Magdalene Man and Woman Peasant with a Wheelbarrow Rebecca and Eliezer at the Well Roman Capriccio: The Pantheon and Other Monuments Self-Portrait Rembrandt Still Life with a Chinese Porcelain Jar Still Life with Profile of Laval The Banks of the Oise near Pontoise The Boy The Channel of Gravelines, Petit Fort Philippe The Country Dance The Crucifixion Cranach The Fifth Plague of Egypt The Flageolet Player on the Cliff The Flight into Egypt The Holy Family with Saint John the Baptist The House of the Deaf Woman and the Belfry at Eragny The Negress The Seamstress The Triumphant Entry of Constantine into Rome The Two Sisters The Valkhof at Nijmegen Triptych of the Annunciation Vorhor, the Green Wave

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Prints, Drawings, and Photographs	Blasting St. Vincent's Rock, Clifton Boreas and Oreithyia Galinthias Outwits Eileithyia by Announcing the Birth of Heracles Mother (Mutter) Moulin Rouge: La Goulue The Holy Family with the Dragonfly Young Woman in Blue

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Outdoor
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by location

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Oldfields	Copy of Diana of Versailles Diana with Dog Female and Male Herm Fountain Four Seasons Landon-Era Birdbath Mother and Child (Gordine) Nymph and Fawn Sundial, Boy With Spider The Three Graces' Pair of Urns

100 Acres	Bench Around the Lake Eden II Free Basket Funky Bones Indianapolis Island Park of Laments Stratum Pier Team Building

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De-accessioned Artworks	Broken Walrus II Holistic Image VIII Weather Tower

City of Indianapolis

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Marion County Indianapolis metropolitan area Indiana

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