I chose to listen to Titus Kaphar’s “How We Can Address Centuries of Racism in Art?” as my first source for the paper that we will be writing in conversation with Rhys Southan’s “Is Art a Waste of Time?”
Kaphar’s TED talk starts with the scene of him and his sons at the Natural History Museum in New York City. His sons notice the Teddy Roosevelt sculpture where Roosevelt is riding a horse with a Native and African American walking beside him. One boy asks why the two men are walking beside Roosevelt while he rides the horse. This question sparks one limit of art that is discussed during Kaphar’s TED talk; art will not fix what happened in the past. However, Kaphar found a way to help amend the mistakes of the nation’s past through the power of art. Throughout the country there are racist statues and paintings depicting African-Americans as slaves and glorifying Confederate war figures. Kaphar does not want to tear them down. He wants to “amend” them to shed light on those who were often overlooked or forgotten in art and in history. During the TED talk, Kaphar presents a portrait of a white colonial family. He points out how the man is the tallest in the image and how the woman is wearing gold jewelry, both very deliberately done by the artist. Also, a deliberate move, was having a small African American boy hidden in the shadows. He paints over the white family with white paint that will slowly fade with time. His “amendment” was not to destroy the painting but to present it in a different way by highlighting the hidden figure. Kaphar wants to use his power of art as a way to amend history rather than erase it.
I thought the free write was very good. I knew you had a very good grasp on the content, especially the speaker’s view on the subject. I might further emphasize the effect the statue has on people and how people see the historical art work now that Kaphar put his take on it.
I think the idea of amending the different racial artwork is unique and if proposed correctly could get widespread recognition. There are the two sides of people who think the art should stay or go. I think that it should not just be erased from history because people need to learn from their mistakes, but as long as historical integrity is intact, it is a great idea in my personal opinion to change it. One drawback of doing this, however, is a lot of times the artists are not alive, so there would be a moral question about changing the artwork without the artist’s input. I think a strength of amending the art is is deliberately recognizes the problems from the past and highlights them, therefore showing which points are important to learn from. It also allows different viewpoints to be taken on the artwork without completely destroying the masterpieces. I also think it is cool that this artist points out different mediums that the art can be amended, showing that many things can be changed and it is not too hard to do so.
Victoria, This writing summed up the points made in the TED talk very well. However, I think that you should add feelings that you experienced and try to relate it to your life or the world. Titus displays a powerful piece of art to the crowd, but there is so much more meaning in the video that isn’t necessarily said. it’s a bit long but its certainly a good start to the writing.