Kristina Walter Recognizing Racism 2020 Watercolor on archival paper 4 panels, each 14" x 11"
This piece is about resisting racism in all its forms, and doing work on what I have the most control over: myself. I have been reading and digesting works this summer about the experiences of people of color and one thing that strikes me is the discomfort or unwillingness of white people to face racism within ourselves. Everyone looks elsewhere for how we are participating in a white supremacist world, but really the hardest place to look is in the mirror.
This work centers on the theme of resistance to racism. There is a need for white people like myself to recognize racism where they would least like to look: in themselves. There is no middle ground, one is either racist or anti-racist and each person and each generation needs to recommit themselves to recognizing that there is no difference between races. We need to examine racist policies that put more people of color behind bars and in poverty. This image is meant to show the sneakiness of racism... it's there in places where you least expect it. In your blind spots, when you let down your guard. Ridding my heart of racism has been like weeding a garden, it requires constant vigilance.
