Kara Walker: Go to Hell or Atlanta, Whichever Comes First, Victoria Miro

Provocative artist Kara Walker returns to London with the first of two uncomfortable exhibitions making visitors squirm at Victoria Miro gallery. 

Kara Walker art & stye

Race, gender and disturbing truths are at the heart of Kara Walker's work, which hasn't always been the darling of the art world. In fact, when Walker became the youngest person to receive the coveted MacArthur Foundation's "genius grant" scholarship, several older African-American artists attacked her work. 

But Walker isn't afraid to take the heat and delve into the stories of violence in American history, of colonialism, slavery and the oppression of contemporary society. Decorative flair and silhouettes deconstruct these narratives, leaving no stereotype unchallenged. Of course this means backlash, and even her parents find her violent and sexually explicit work hard to handle. 

Victoria Miro exhibition

Using the Victoria Miro, Wharf Road gallery to her advantage, Walker fills the show with cut paper installations and photographic wallpaper pieces that are inspired by the Deep American South where she spent her rebellious teen years. Atlanta's Stone Mountain park, which was home to the Ku Klux Klan and now the base for a theme park, is one of the complex historical sites that Walker unravels. 

Uncompromising and rabble-rousing, Kara Walker's show will get the town talking during Frieze London 2015.