Black History Month -- Titus Kaphar, Artist

Titus Kaphar (1976 -     )

American contemporary painter and filmmaker

whose work reconfigures and regenerates

art history to include African-American subjects.

Look at his absolutely stunning work of art

entitled Enough About You (2016) --

The following is a quotation from Titus Kaphar

(found here) explaining this painting's purpose

and the erasure of black lives that it seeks to reverse --

"Enough About You wasn’t a commission. At the time Yale was having these discussions, or attempting to, about a number of different race issues. There was this painting, which showed Elihu Yale with two other white men signing some document, and this young black boy on the side who was serving them—he had a steel collar and a lock around his neck. And so that painting is something that the university owns and it was challenging. 

When I first saw the original painting, I began to do some research on that little boy. I could find everything I wanted about every other detail in the painting, but there was nothing about him. No history. And so I wanted to find a way to imagine a life for this young man that the historical painting had never made space for in the composition: his desires, dreams, family, thoughts, hopes. Those things were never subjects that the original artist wanted the viewer to contemplate. In order to reframe the discussion, I decided to physically take action to quiet [and crumple] the side of the painting that we’ve been talking about for a very long time and turn up the volume on this kid’s story. And that’s the reason why I started that painting."

Yes, turn up the volume!

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This post is also being linked to

Sunday in the Art Room HERE

Black History Month -- Viola Desmond

Viola Desmond (1914 - 1965)

Canadian businesswoman, civil and women's rights activist,

arrested, convicted and fined for challenging racial segregation

in a Nova Scotia cinema in 1946 (pardoned in 2010);

in 2018, she became the first Canadian-born woman

to appear alone on a Canadian bank note (our current $10 bill),

with the Canadian Human Rights Museum on the reverse.

Black History Month -- Harriet Tubman

[Michael Rosato, Take My Hand, 2019]

Harriet Tubman (c.1822-1913)

American escaped slave,

abolitionist and social activist,

conductor on the Underground Railroad.

Isn't this art wonderful?

I love how she is emerging from the mural,

stepping out of frame, extending her hand,

helping the viewer enter the scene.

As if she is saying,

"Fear not. Have courage.

Come with me. Your freedom awaits."

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This post is also being linked to

Sunday in the Art Room HERE