Kara Walker Show at Cleveland Museum of Art Links Slavery, Black Lives Matter and Christian Martyrdom

THE CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER
By Steven Litt

A detail of Kara Walker's "Easter Parade in the Old Country,'' on view in the exhibition "The Ecstasy of St. Kara" at the Cleveland Museum of Art, through Saturday, Dec. 31.

OHIO -- The Cleveland Museum of Art has no official position on the Black Lives Matter movement. But the museum's new show on the work of Kara Walker, which opens today, highlights connections the acclaimed American artist sees between religion, slavery, martyrdom and the use of lethal force by police, which has inspired protests nationwide, including in Cleveland. Walker became fascinated by the depiction of martyrs and saints alongside actual physical relics, which caused in her "a slippery sensation of revulsion and realness" that made her consider "whether we must carry the rotting bodies of the fallen through the streets."[link]

The Cleveland Museum of Art: "The Ecstacy of St. Kara" (Through December 31, 2016); 11150 East Boulevard, Cleveland, OH; (216) 421-7350; clevelandart.org