The Emancipation Approximation (Scene #26), 2000
Signed and numbered from the edition of 25.
44 x 34 inches (111.8 x 86.4 cm.)
All works are inspected prior to delivery, work will be sent out tracked and insured at buyers cost. If you'd like to make specific arrangements or discuss collection then please contact us directly.
Accepted: Wire transfer
ART PLEASE Assurance Policy: Every ART PLEASE seller has been approved by ART PLEASE after a thorough review. All of our sellers are required to accept the following ART PLEASE policy: A buyer may return an item purchased through ART PLEASE, if the item received is not as described in its listing, or is found to be unauthentic.
Kara Walker’s The Emancipation Approximation (Scene #26) (2000) is part of her influential Emancipation series, a body of work that confronts the intertwined histories of race, gender, sexuality, and power in America. Executed as a color screenprint on heavy Somerset 500 gram paper, this edition of 25 (each signed and numbered) measures 44 × 34 inches (111.8 × 86.4 cm), giving the work a commanding presence. In this series, Walker uses her signature silhouetted forms—reductive yet loaded with meaning—to reimagine and interrogate myths surrounding the Emancipation Proclamation and the legacy of slavery. The visual starkness of the silhouette technique allows her to explore deeply uncomfortable truths with both immediacy and theatricality, drawing viewers into scenes that are as unsettling as they are compelling.
Scene #26 exemplifies Walker’s provocative blending of historical reference and contemporary critique. The work employs her cut-paper-inspired figures to construct a tableau that destabilizes conventional narratives of freedom and liberation, suggesting that emancipation was neither a singular nor uncomplicated event. By distilling complex social dynamics into silhouettes stripped of individual identity, Walker exposes the persistence of stereotypes and power imbalances that continue to reverberate in modern culture. The tension between the work’s flat, elegant formalism and its violent or charged subject matter is precisely what gives it such force, making The Emancipation Approximation series one of Walker’s most significant contributions to the contemporary discourse on race and memory.
