Kara Walker: “African Boy Attendant Curio (Bananas)”

In this installation, a permanent version of one attendant, a black boy carrying a bushel of bananas, is presented alongside sugar-related objects from our collection.

Together with sugar bowls and other items, the figure highlights the impact on material culture of the triangular trade between Europe, Africa, and the Americas, and the enslaved people whose bodies and labor were the foundation of the sugar industry.