Mack Lecture: Kara Walker
Tickets & Info
The Mack Lecture Series presents internationally renowned artist, professor, and MacArthur Fellow Kara Walker.
Over the course of three decades and as many cultural shifts, Walker has exposed the grotesque realities of American self-mythology. Widely recognized for her provocative cut-paper silhouettes, she interrogates race, gender, and power with uncompromising candor. Working in mediums ranging from shadow puppetry to large-scale sculpture, she frequently employs caricature, stereotype, and horror as tools of subversion.
In her long-awaited return to the Walker Art Center, the artist draws on her recently co-curated exhibition MONUMENTS, which examines the role of historical iconography in the construction of national identity. Uncovering the complicated narratives embedded within public monuments, Walker considers the role of artists and institutions in shaping collective memory.
A short, moderated dialogue and Q&A will follow Walker’s presentation. A pop-up bar will open in the Main Lobby starting one hour before the lecture.
Mack Lectures provide a platform for changemakers at the forefront of their fields to share new ideas and alternative ways of working.
Tickets will go on sale at a later date to be announced.
Kara Walker is widely regarded as one of the most influential American artists of our time. Over the past 30 years, Walker has developed a singular visual language spanning silhouette, installation, painting, and moving image. Widely exhibited worldwide, her work examines the enduring entanglements of race, gender, sexuality, and violence in the US. Walker has been honored with numerous awards, including the MacArthur Fellowship and the Eileen Harris Norton Fellowship. The artist’s first major survey exhibition, Kara Walker: My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love, was organized by and presented at the Walker Art Center in 2007. Her work is held in major public collections across the US and Europe, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; and Tate Modern, London. Walker’s practice also extends into large-scale public projects, such as A Subtlety … (2014), her monumental installation at the abandoned Domino Sugar Factory in Brooklyn. The artist lives and works in New York.
For more information about accessibility at the Walker, visit our <a href=”https://substrakt-live.walkerart.org/visit/accessibility/”>Access page</a>.
For questions about accessibility, or to request additional accommodations, call 612-375-7564, or email <a href=”mailto:access@walkerart.org”>access@walkerart.org</a>.
The Mack Lecture series is made possible by generous support from Aaron and Carol Mack.
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Dates & Tickets
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Wed May 06, 2026
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