Kara Walker awarded Hyundai commission at Tate Modern

Tate Modern has announced that American artist Kara Walker will produce the next annual Hyundai commission for the museum’s cathedral-like Turbine Hall. Walker’s work takes an unflinching look at black history, stereotypes, violence and exploitation, telling the stories of women with monumental sculptures, silhouettes and shadow puppets. At first glance these creations look like illustrations for fairy tales, but just like the fables of old, they are uncomfortably dark.

Kara Walker

Walker’s most monumental work to date took the form of a 40 ton foam sculpture covered in sugar and resin, a site specific installation that was housed in the Domino Sugar Refinery in Brooklyn, New York. The 2014 sculpture depicted a woman transformed into a sphinx, towering 10 metres high, accompanied by small boys crafted from brown sugar and molasses. A Subtlety, or the Marvelous Sugar Baby was conceived to engage with the history of the factory and the unpaid workers who have contributed to the sugar trade across the centuries. 130,000 visitors turned out to the derelict site to view Walker’s work colossal installation.

The list of artists commissioned to create works for Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall includes Icelandic-Danish artist Oflafur Eliason, Columbian-born sculptor Doris Salcedo and British artist Anish Kapoor. Walker’s instalment will open to the public from 2 October 2019 to 5 April 2020. No information has been released on the specifics yet, but you can bet it will be big.