The Humanities Council will welcome award-winning artist Kara Walker to Princeton University as the Spring 2025 Belknap Visitor in the Humanities.
As part of her visit, Walker will deliver a public lecture, titled “Working the Negative Space,” which will provide a look at her groundbreaking past and future work, from shadow puppets to automatons. The lecture, which is co-sponsored by the Princeton University Art Museum, will be held on Tuesday, March 25 at 4:30 p.m. in 10 McCosh Hall.
Walker’s visit is part of the Council’s Baldwin Circles project, a yearlong cross-disciplinary initiative celebrating the life and legacy of James Baldwin. The event is free and open to the public; tickets are required and can be reserved through University Ticketing.*
Eddie Glaude Jr. (African American Studies) will introduce Walker. Welcome remarks will be given by Esther Schor (English), chair of the Humanities Council.
“Fearless, audacious, and profound: Kara Walker is all of these,” said Schor. “Whatever her medium, whatever her focus, Walker asks us to look with our minds and think with our eyes; we can’t wait to welcome her to Princeton for the Belknap Lecture.”
Walker is best known for her bold and candid investigation of race, gender, power, and national mythologies via her signature cut-paper silhouettes. She has received numerous awards during her career, including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Achievement Award. Her work is showcased in the collections of prominent museums across the United States and Europe. Her work will also be on view in the new Princeton University Art Museum, which will open this fall.
Her commissioned, site-specific installation titled “Fortuna and the Immortality Garden (Machine)” is currently on view at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art through May 2026. The installation features life-sized automatons and examines the memorialization of trauma, the objectives of technology, and the negative energies plaguing contemporary society.
The Belknap Visitors in the Humanities program was created to recognize distinguished individuals in the arts and letters. Previous visitors include Toni Morrison, Eudora Welty, Nadine Gordimer, Roy Lichtenstein, John Updike, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Peter Sellars, Arthur Miller, Twyla Tharp, Maurice Sendak, Ghiora Aharoni, Wim Wenders, Meryl Streep, Robert Alter, Maya Lin, and Stephen Sondheim.
For more information about the Belknap Visitors program, and to learn about upcoming Baldwin Circles events, visit the Humanities Council website.
*Updated March 11: This event is currently sold out. Please email humanities@princeton.edu to join the notification list in case of additional ticketing opportunities.
