Hey, guys welcome back to the second part of my black art series! Today we are going to be talking about a young artist who I have admired for quite some time now; Titus Kaphar.
Now to the art
I forgot how I came across his work, but I know when I saw it I had to talk about him in my art series. I remember exactly what caught my attention. It was a curtain with what looked like a prominent white man painted on it manipulated to fall partially away to show the shiny limbs of a black woman. The woman is looking directly and a little confused at me. Looking at me as if she is being seen for the first time.
After I saw this painting I was immediately intrigued so I decided to learn more about what inspires Mr. Kaphar’s work. I came across his TED talk quite easily and honestly by the time he finished I wished it was longer. I learned his work stems from his obvious love for Art History. But also the sad reality that in the order for him to learn more about black paintings and artists he had to learn on his own. Teachers and professors couldn’t bother less with telling their narratives, so he took it upon himself to tell it.
As he said in his TED Talk his white slashes across white faces aren’t meant to eradicate but to FOCUS for the first time on the black and native American people stories. Kaphar uses his work to allow the audience to not run away from a painful past but to confront it in order to not make the same mistakes today.
So, In conclusion, I like his work
I like the Jerome project because its a powerful piece or must I say pieces that focus on the social injustices of the criminal justice system. A re-occurring theme that doesn’t seem to never end. His need to find his own father’s prison records is what inspired this project. He came across dozen of men mug shots with the same name as his father and drew their profiles. The tar Kaphar dips their profiles in serves as a percentage of their time taken away from the prison system as well as a way to obscure their identity. The luxury of privacy they don’t have since they are so openly available on online prison databases.
His motivation to speak about black stories and use his art to “amend” history says a lot about wanting to change the black narrative. Finally allowing the stories of the people behind the scenes to be told.
Be sure if you haven’t already check out my last post on black art.
