The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 15, 2025

Two square panels flush together covered in swirling black streaks out of which emerge silhouettes of people and on which occasionally swirls brown, roughly human-like splotches of paint. The silhouetted people are precisely outlined and shaded with a blotchy gray against white, with one wearing a dress and all holding some form of tool or weapon. In the upper right and lower left corner brown human-like paint swirls hold red flags with blue "x"s.

The Republic of New Afrika at a Crossroads

2016

Kara Walker

(American, b. 1969)
America
Raw pigment and watercolor medium, graphite, and (paper) collage on paper
Overall: 287 x 532.1 x 8.3 cm (113 x 209 1/2 x 3 1/4 in.); Left: 287 x 264.8 x 8.3 cm (113 x 104 1/4 x 3 1/4 in.); Right: 287 x 266.1 x 8.3 cm (113 x 104 3/4 x 3 1/4 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 2016.54
© Kara Walker
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

This is part of series inspired by Walker’s 2016 stay in Rome, where she encountered the intersection between her work and Christian narratives.

Description

This singular drawing is at odds with Walker’s clear cut figurative work, seeking to disrupt legibility with abstraction and ambiguity. Indeed, a tangle of bodies in chaotic motion covers the entire surface of the paper. The black separatist group mentioned in this work’s title sought to create a sovereign country for African Americans within the southern United States. The tumultuous composition raises the question of what the consequences would have been had the utopian plan gained momentum.
  • 2016
    Collection of the artist
    2016
    (Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    2016-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Rutland, Beau. “Acquisition Highlights 2016: Contemporary Art.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 57, no. 2 (March/April 2017): 8-11. Reproduced: P. 8-9; Mentioned: P. 7, 10 archive.org
    Griswold, William M. “Recent Acquisitions (2013-20) at the Cleveland Museum of Art.” Burlington Magazine 163, no. 1414 (January 2021): 93-104. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 100-101, no. 15; mentioned: P. 93
    Griswold, William M. and Key Jo Lee. “Trauma and Transformation.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 61, no. 1 (Winter 2021): 6-7. Reproduced and Mentioned: P. 6-7 archive.org
  • Stories from Storage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 7-May 16, 2021).
    The Ecstasy of St. Kara: Kara Walker, New Work. Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (September 10 – December 31, 2016).
    The Ecstasy of St. Kara: Kara Walker, New Work. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 10-December 31, 2016).
  • {{cite web|title=The Republic of New Afrika at a Crossroads|url=false|author=Kara Walker|year=2016|access-date=15 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2016.54