Can art amend history? | Titus Kaphar

Artist Titus Kaphar makes paintings and sculptures that wrestle with the struggles of the past while speaking to the diversity and advances of the present. In an unforgettable live workshop, Kaphar takes a brush full of white paint to a replica of a 17th-century Frans Hals painting, obscuring parts of the composition and bringing its hidden story into view. There's a narrative coded in art like this, Kaphar says. What happens when we shift our focus and confront unspoken truths?

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[MayaTheBeeeeee]

Let's not forget; history as we know it is history told from the 'winners' perspective. He's not calling for destruction of history, he's asking for all of history. The uncomfortable and the painful, the beautiful and forgotten, all of it.

[ThereForTomorrowMCR]

"The editor cuts a line and someone's face fades;
the editor says two hundred words or less, and suddenly
a whole family goes missing.
The spotlight isn't about the light, it's how
it makes everything around it dark" - Dylan Garity

This is what Kaphar is saying. He's not saying erase history. He's saying parts of it have been neglected and purposefully removed. It's time to shift the focus. Give another perspective some time in the light.

[monicaghosh]

It's beautiful because he made the point of amending, not erasing or altering- simply bringing the focus to the forgotten or neglect history.

[Seedicidal]

For those that might no have watched the entire video as the though it looked like he was arguing to change history to make it more fair, that actually would be the complete opposite of his argument. He doesn't want to change the art to hide what was old, but add some kind of new art tell help explain the history behind the original art so one could understand why that art is like that.

[smexisezy]

This is such an underrated, amazing Ted Talk and so many of the people who disliked the video and are in the comments leaving dense comments didn't even watch it! So annoying!

[CRaetybf]

This speaks my truth!!! As a Native Artist, I've experienced the same hand-wringing from reticent Professors who didn't want to "waste time" on subjects they felt were likely to be controversial and would be meet with broad debate and divisive arguments rooted in preconceived notions. So, instead of discussing the topics that could've been life changing to a minority (of minorities) and offer a chance to better understand our history, the subject might make the majority feel uncomfortable so we ended up only discussing art through the Western World view. That myopic world view proliferates distorted, often completely false narratives of our history.
Western Civilization's view shouldn't dominate art history or any other history. This is why race relations are still dysfunctional and are noticeable getting worse. I truly don't see any change happening until Americans have the courage to acknowledge and reckon with the ugly sides of of our history. American Exceptionalism is a lie we tell ourselves and our children for the sole purpose of not having to think about the realities of those who are still living with the effects of our truthful history. That way of thinking is untenable for those of us that are tired of dealing with those effects and view it as another burden we have to deal with to placate those who can't handle the truth.
This also highlights the "Postcolonial Gaze" theory that has been a major part of better understanding my ancestry and seeing it through our eyes for a change. It illustrates how Western Civilization has always felt that those not of Western Civilization to be beneath them in some ways, but Postcolonial Gaze theory makes it clear that what they viewed as beneath them was actually just different cultural traditions and norms. I only wish I didn't have to spend my life learning these things on my own.

[thegwyngwyn]

I just had to watch this talk for a class at my college and I thought I'd provide my insight on it.

Kaphar's main point is that we need to not just look at the big picture of art and history but also the small details of it. He is saying that it's important to focus on the parts of history that were forgotten and/or removed.

Kaphar is challenging society to change our focus using our ability as visual learners to critically think about the history of art and how we can amend it. He says "Painting is a language" in the sense that there are reasons and meanings to the why and how a painting was made. By looking at a painting's visual elements and form, we can start to see how the painting was made and what the artist was trying to tell us.

In this TED Talk, Kaphar asks us to rearrange our focus, just for a little bit, to the smaller details of history in the paintings and images we see. The small details and figures in a painting matter just as much as the bigger picture. For if there were no details, then the painting would have very little meaning. This talk will definitely help me in finding those details in an image, big or small. It will help me critically think about the form, elements, and semiotics of a painting to successfully analyze and interpret what the artist was trying to say.

[waldenlake]

This talk was genius. He deserves all of the accolades he's receiving right now.

[wanpotutu]

One of the best ted talks. In my opinion total attention to his moved words and timing.

[amberpham]

Never has a TED talk been ever so relevant before. Keep it up, Titus!

[LucasRizzotto]

Meaningful tansformation, not destruction. I'm all for this.

[benwillis]

Watching tht man put those first strokes on them made my heart start racing. Super powerful

[kieransquared]

Since many people clearly did not watch the video, I'll give you the most important excerpt from the transcript:

"What I'm trying to do, what I'm trying to show you, is how to shift your gaze just slightly, just momentarily, just momentarily, to ask yourself the question, why do some have to walk? What is the impact of these kinds of sculptures at museums? What is the impact of these kinds of paintings on some of our most vulnerable in society, seeing these kinds of depictions of themselves all the time? I'm not saying erase it. We can't erase this history. It's real. We have to know it. (...) You remember old-school cameras, where when you took a picture, you actually had to focus. Right? You'd put the camera up, and if I wanted you in focus, I would move the lens a little to the left and you would come forward. I could move the lens a little to the right, and you would go back and the folks in the background would come out. I'm just trying to do that here. I'm trying to give you that opportunity. I'm trying to answer that question that my son had. I want to make paintings, I want to make sculptures that are honest, that wrestle with the struggles of our past but speak to the diversity and the advances of our present. And we can't do that by taking an eraser and getting rid of stuff. That's just not going to work. I think that we should do it in the same way the American Constitution works. When we have a situation where we want to change a law in the American Constitution, we don't erase the other one. Alongside that is an amendment, something that says, "This is where we were, but this is where we are right now." I figure if we can do that, then that will help us understand a little bit about where we're going."

It's not about erasure, it's about the exact opposite. It's about bringing to light the people who were in the background.

[queenmaj]

Something I've seen a lot of misunderstanding about in the comments: when he paints over the people in the picture, he's not contradicting himself. He's not saying that we should change history. He's challenging us to temporarily change our focus (recall that he said the paint he used to block them out has a linseed oil base; it would turn transparent within a few days and the painting would look as it did before) and bring to the foreground a perspective that is often neglected. Such a visual representation was needed to really get through to his audience. His words were effective, but seeing what he was talking about brought to life like that was powerful. It stopped people in their tracks. It made them take notice. That was the point.

[emmakersten]

I love this video! Titus Kaphar could not have put it in a better way!!

[emmadavis]

Currently watching this for my Art History course; THIS is the mind we need today. This ideaology could be so effective if the majority of people were able to listen and act on more than just face value. This gave me chills.

[mackenziefirman]

Titus, I enjoyed your lecture at the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown regarding our new exhibit Forgotten Soldier, and I love that we have your sculpture, in our exhibit, "Shifting Your Gaze" it's remarkable! Such a talent!

[RodrigoAvila]

Oh man, that was amazing. I heard about your work at NPR Ted Hour Podcast and looked for you speech, but what I found was much more profund. I am finally getting why art is so important. Thanks a lot

[icaledshotgun]

I believe the speaker said multiple times that he is NOT trying to delete history (by him using a white paint that would become transparent over time), but to shift the focus (when he used the analogy of the camera focus). He emphasized this multiple times. How does the conversation STILL largely concentrate on that?

No one is trying to erase history, just honour the ones of those that have been ignored.

[TheBurgessNetwork]

Why wasn't this video longer? this is such an important discussion in many ways. Wow!