Reading
Quote from Titus Kaphar
Artist Titus Kaphar reflects on creating art that wrestles with the complexities of history in this excerpt from his TED Talk.
At a Glance
Subject
- History
- Social Studies
- Democracy & Civic Engagement
Quote from Titus Kaphar’s TED Talk “Can art amend history?”:
I want to make paintings, I want to make sculptures that are honest, that wrestle with the struggles of our past but speak to the diversity and the advances of our present. And we can’t do that by taking an eraser and getting rid of stuff. That’s just not going to work. I think that we should do it in the same way the American Constitution works. When we have a situation where we want to change a law in the American Constitution, we don’t erase the other one. Alongside that is an amendment, something that says, “This is where we were, but this is where we are right now.” I figure if we can do that, then that will help us understand a little bit about where we’re going. 1
- 1Titus Kaphar, “Can art amend history?,” TED video (filmed April 2017), 12:44, accessed August 21, 2020.
Supporting Materials
The resources I’m getting from my colleagues through Facing History have been just invaluable.
—
Claudia Bautista, Santa Monica, Calif