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The Keys to the Coop

Artist Kara Walker (American, born 1969)

Date1997

MediumLinocut on paper

DimensionsSheet: 46 1/4 × 60 1/2 inches (117.5 × 153.7 cm)
Framed: 48 1/2 × 63 × 1 1/2 inches (123.2 × 160 × 3.8 cm)

Credit LineGift from the estate of Lorlee and Arnold Tenenbaum donated by Ann, Brian, Margot, and Alison Tenenbaum.

Object number2022.75

On View

Not on view

Copyright© Kara Walker. The images and text contained on this page are owned by Telfair Museums or used by the Museum with permission from the owners. Unauthorized reproduction, transmission or display of these materials is prohibited with the exception of items deemed “fair use” as defined by U.S. and international copyright laws.Label TextIn The Keys to the Coop, an airborne headless bird is chased by a young Black girl in a dress and boots. A skeleton key swings around her left finger, and with her right hand she raises the bird’s head to her open mouth. Based on the child’s costume, viewers can interpret this as a scene of daily life in the antebellum South, where enslaved individuals would not have had free access to provisions. In this light, the child’s control of the keys reflects a shift of power, one that led her to seek out the immediacy of food, likely a representation of her undernourishment. Kara Walker’s work forces viewers to confront uncomfortable and dark dynamics of power and control that were inherent to the systems of slavery in the American South. The linocut features Walker’s signature use of silhouette images, recalling a 19th-century genteel art form acceptable for young women of a certain class. The silhouette denies the viewer a full narrative of the scene, providing just enough detail so that viewers can imagine the child’s emotions and the harsh circumstances of her life.

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