Write a 6 sentence summary of what this Ted Talk is about.
In this TED Talk, Titus discusses the lack of representation of Black people in particular in historical pieces of art. He gives examples from his own life experiences, such as seeing the Roosevelt statue in the Natural History Museum and having the whole chapter about Black people in historical art and Black artists from his textbook be skipped over in one of his classes supposedly due to “lack of time”. These experiences caused him to realize that representation of Black people in art is something that needs to be addressed, and his way of doing so is amending historical art pieces. He shows his own rendition of a painting by Frans Hals, and then proceeds to paint over the white people in the painting with what looks like white paint but will actually dry transparent. This shows that it is possible for artworks to be amended to highlight Black people without erasing or eradicating history. His message is that historical art and paintings can be changed or amended to showcase Black people in history without actually erasing the history of the original work.
Identify 2 claims Titus is making, either directly (via transcript, ie. quotes) or indirectly (practice your paraphrasing!)
“Painting is a visual language where everything in the painting is meaningful, is important. It’s coded. But sometimes, because of the compositional structure, because of compositional hierarchy, it’s hard to see other things.”
The history of art in the past can be amended to highlight Black people in history without erasing the history of the original pieces.
Do you agree with his approach to remedy the perceptions of history through his unconventional art? Why or why not? (150 words!)
I definitely think that it is an intriguing approach. As someone who is represented everywhere throughout history, I can’t say I know what it is like to experience a lack of representation or misrepresentation so I think that any approach to try to highlight more marginalized groups in history is a great idea. His approach is something that doesn’t erase the history and meaning of historical paintings but rather presents a new perspective on the works of art. I think that it also highlights the inequality faced by marginalized groups in history and further proves that there is such a lack of representation for Black people not only just in historical art but in history as a whole. I think that also along with Titus’ approach, more modern art done by Black artists should be showcased as well instead of only focusing on the past. Right now, we are making historical art for future generations, so creating a lot of representation now will prove useful for people studying art a hundred years from now.
Titus Kaphar’s Artwork
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