Slaughter of the Innocents (They Might be Guilty of Something)

Kara Walker addresses the history of slavery and today’s persistent racism through vividly rendered narratives. Using cut-out silhouettes that reflect and confound stereotypes of the Antebellum era, Walker demands that we confront this toxic legacy. Critic Hilton Als has written, “In Walker’s work, slavery is a nightmare from which no American has yet awakened . . . leaving us all scarred, hateful, hated, and diminished.”

Slaughter of the Innocents (They Might be Guilty of Something) is among Walker’s first large-scale compositions mounted on canvas. Here she restages the Biblical narrative, with violence matched by mourning, subjection countered by erotic power.