MacArthur Winner Confronts Racism and Injustice

Titus Kaphar started painting seriously when he was in his 20s, in large part to impress the woman who would become his wife. He took art-history classes at a junior college and continued to hone his own artistic skills. Kaphar was late to the game because his upbringing didn’t include art and museums. His mother was 15 years old when he was born, and he has had an on-again, off-again relationship with his father, Jerome, who has been in prison for parts of his life.

But Kaphar made up for lost time. His monumental canvases that challenge racism by putting African-Americans squarely in the foreground have picked up some heady accolades. Last month, Kaphar won a “genius grant” from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. He says people see his artworks as social or political because of his background, “but for the most part they are all very personal.”

One example is a series of paintings called the Jerome Project. When Kaphar searched the internet to find his father’s criminal records, he also discovered scores of mug shots of other African-American men with the same first and last names. He collected the mug shots, painted them, then dipped them in tar to signify how long they had been locked up. The chunky substance covers the subjects’ mouths to signify their loss of expression while they were in prison and after. The series is a powerful visual representation of the effects of incarceration on black males.

“It is an investigation of the criminal-justice system through the lens of the name ‘Jerome,’ but if you use any name that has some sort of racial determinant, like ‘Tyreke’ or ‘Tyrone,’ you’ll find a similar thing,” Kaphar says in a short documentary about the series.

In 2015, Kaphar co-founded NXTHVN, an arts organization that provides studio space and residencies to artists and curators. Its new home is set to open next year in New Haven, Conn. Kaphar hopes the new space will attract young artists.

“I feel really strongly that if I can do anything to help other young folks who come from the kinds of communities I come from discover their passion and discover the thing that motivates them, I will be a happy man.”