Black History Month ~ Film Screening and Discussion
In recognition of Black History Month, and as part of the ongoing Awareness Month Film project, IDEAA and the SMCM Library, are pleased to present TedTalks with Titus Kaphar as the February awareness month screening and discussion event.
We invite the entire campus community to join us for a lunchtime viewing (virtual) on Thursday, February 17, at 12:00 pm, followed by an engaging and interactive discussion featuring Titus Kaphar, painter, sculptor, filmmaker, and installation artist who confronts history by dismantling classical structures and styles of visual representation in Western art in order to subvert them.
Event Details:
– Thursday, February 17, 2022
– 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
– Virtual (Zoom) / Registration required: https://smcm.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEscemtpzMrEtGJ47XRaNJ2m_Uph45rHCBc
About the Episodes:
TedTalk 1 ~ Can Art Amend History?: 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?
Tedtalk 2 ~ The Evidence of Things Unseen: Twisting, gilding, and whitewashing the canvas: artist Titus Kaphar explores the omissions and the empty spaces in art history, and fills in the blanks through painting and sculpture. His latest exhibition, presented by Belgian gallery Maruani Mercier, is “The Evidence of Things Unseen” and it asks an urgent question: just why were there no Black faces in Renaissance religious art?
About the Artist: Titus Kaphar is an artist whose paintings, sculptures, and installations examine the history of representation by transforming its styles and mediums with formal innovations to emphasize the physicality and dimensionality of the canvas and materials themselves. His practice seeks to dislodge history from its status as the “past” in order to unearth its contemporary relevance. He cuts, crumples, shrouds, shreds, stitches, tars, twists, bends, erases, breaks, tears, and turns the paintings and sculptures he creates, reconfiguring them into works that reveal unspoken truths about the nature of history. Open areas become active absences; walls enter into the portraits; stretcher bars are exposed; and structures that are typically invisible underneath, behind, or inside the canvas are laid bare to reveal the interiors of the work. In so doing, Kaphar’s aim is to reveal something of what has been lost and to investigate the power of a rewritten history.
Kaphar’s commitment to social engagement has led him to move beyond traditional modes of artistic expression to establish NXTHVN. NXTHVN is a new national arts model that empowers emerging artists and curators of color through education and access. Through intergenerational mentorship, professional development, and cross-sector collaboration, NXTHVN accelerates professional careers in the arts. Now in its second year of operation, NXTHVN encourages artists, art professionals, and local entrepreneurs to expand New Haven’s growing creative community. Supporters include the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, Stonesthrow Fund, and the RISC Foundation.
If you have questions or need further assistance, please contact Sarah Cannavo (slcannavo@smcm.edu) or Kat Ryner (khryner@smcm.edu).
