Kara Walker uses silhouettes to visually reduce complex figures to racial and sexual stereotypes, making them ambiguous and forcing viewers to confront their own biases and preconceptions. Silhouettes, a form historically used for genteel portraiture, allow her to subvert expectations by blending the beautiful with the grotesque, revealing the... See more

Key reasons for using silhouettes Confronting racial and sexual stereotypes: Walker uses the simplistic form of silhouettes to depict caricatured figures that are based on harmful stereotypes, highlighting how racial stereotypes are "reductions of actual human beings".Creating ambiguity and audience complicity: By leaving out facial features, the... See more