Shadow Puppet Inspiration!

This week I've been learning about artist, Kara Walker, in my art history class. The work we've been dissecting is called "Darkytown Rebellion"; it is comprised of color projections and silhuottes that recall the 1960's liquid light shows projected with psychedelic music to heighten the surreality of the scene. The work interacts with it's viewers being that participants walk around it and engage in all of it's elements, becoming a part of the history of the piece. More specifically, the installation emphasizes how real the suffering of the African American people was and how it's effects are still resonating around us to this day.

Overall, Walker's installation challenges visualizations of race within popular culture. My work with "CrazyTown" strives to create the same kid of intimacy and connectivity Walker's works exude. Studying Walker, I learned that she also creates shadow puppet films! Here's a gif I found of one of Walker's shadow puppet films:

  

Watching some of Walker's hand puppet films showed me that I like the "spotlight" atmosphere she creates such as in the gif above. Working with the finger lasers has been kind of a struggle so I'm going to try working with the spotlight at my school's auditorium and my projector at home to see what brings the best lighting results!