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Kara Walker is renowned for her bold examinations of the dynamics of power and the exploitation of race and sexuality through her profound work that has appeared in exhibitions around the world. This beautifully designed book documents the creation of Walker’s major new commission, Fortuna and the Immortality Garden (Machine) (2024), at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The installation features eight Black automatons, including the seven-foot-tall prophetess, Fortuna, who responds to each visitor with a choreographed routine and a printed fortune fresh from her mouth.

 

This book presents Walker’s working drawings and paintings, photographs of her creative process with collaborators, and detailed images of the final installation. Also included are an illuminating text by Walker, an essay by product designer David A. M. Goldberg, a selection of fashion designer Gary Graham’s notebook pages, an excerpt from Donna Haraway’s influential essay “A Cyborg Manifesto,” experimental short fiction by writer Damani McNeil, and a conversation between Walker and curator Eungie Joo.