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Hyundai Commission : KARA WALKER

2 Oct 2019-8 Nov 2020

Tate Modern
London SE1 9TG

Overview

Acclaimed artist Kara Walker presents one of the most ambitious Hyundai Commissions to date. Fons Americanus is a 13-metre tall working fountain inspired by the Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace, London. Rather than a celebration of the British Empire, Walker’s fountain explores the interconnected histories of Africa, America and Europe. She uses water as a key theme, referring to the transatlantic slave trade and the ambitions, fates and tragedies of people from these three continents. Fantasy, fact and fiction meet at an epic scale