How have contemporary artists explored cultural identity? Discuss works in which artists explore ...

Responses will vary depending on the selection of artwork. Artists associated with the feminist movement of the 1970s and the gay activisms of the 1980s were instrumental in opening the art world to works that addressed human difference and the many identities the American culture embraced. Kara Walker's art takes on the highly charged subject of racism in her installation Darkytown Rebellion. Consisting of large-scale silhouettes cut from heavy black paper and attached to a wall, the installation is made up of brief scenes of a series of vignettes. Stereotypes of master and slave come to life and begin to act out their true natures. In addressing the most highly charged issues, the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s, David Wojnarowicz used the formal means of advertising to channel emotions from his personal experience in his silver gelatin print Untitled (Sometimes I come to hate people).