Kara Walker

The title of this animation sounds like a fairy tale, and the design also evokes a dream-like atmosphere. But once again Walker demonstrates her capacity to bring attention to the horrific in a poetic manner. Music composed by Lady Midnight follows the movement of the image. Its initial 'once-upon-a-time' theme develops into marching band, ragtime, soul and rock melodies that heighten the driving, filmic tone of the narrative.

The film is a response to social developments in the US over the past decades, in which right-wing extremist views have led to distrust, hatred and violence. Think of the past year's January 6th storming of the Capitol, watched live on Dutch television as well. But also: the 1995 bomb attack in Oklahoma City, which killed 168 civilians – and the murder of James Byrd Jr., lynched by white suprematists in 1998. In the title Walker refers to The Turner Diaries, a dystopian novel from 1978 which describes a race war, from which Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh moreover took inspiration. The book is considered one of the most influential texts within today's right-wing extremist movements. But Walker's title also refers to the beautiful 1926 film The Adventures of Prince Achmed, by German director Lotte Reiniger, the godmother of silhouette animation. An allusion to beauty and creation in a fairy tale that doesn't end well, and therefore to the hope that we nonetheless want to see in it.