Titus Kaphar’s ability to centre new perspectives and prompt reflection on long-standing systemic oppressions has never felt more poignant than in these present t.mes s. His signature approach of deconstructing established and culturally ingrained iconography, and subsequently rebuilding images with the inclusion of Black possibilities and representation, has struck a resonant chord, especially in the way his artistic production encourages viewers to reassess the cultural canon and question how it came to be so.

Executed in 2008, Untitled (Martyr) depicts a religious figure draped in luxurious crimson cloth against an inky black pool of infinity. As the protagonist rests one hand on his chest, the other hand is elevated and animated, perhaps giving a sermon or addressing a crowd. The delicately shredded Martyr is precisely dismantled, in which both the image and the materiality of the painting have been shredded. Kaphar comments, “I cut, crumple, shroud, shred, stitch, tar, twist, bind, erase, break, tear and turn the paintings and sculptures I create, reconfiguring them into works that nod to hidden narratives and begin to reveal unspoken truths about the nature of history” (Titus Kaphar quoted in: ‘Titus Kaphar: Can art amend history’, Ted Talk, April 2017, online). Through the deconstructive technique of shredding, and thus erasing both subject and support, Kaphar reconstructs new codes and modalities, whilst reappraising the Northern Renaissance tradition of Christian paintings.

In Catholicism the Saints are grouped based on their spiritual achievements, for example the Scholars, Leaders, Mystics and the Martyrs. While Martys are revered as holy people, the lives of the latter contain gruesome tales of torture and execution. Drawing parallels with the Black experience, Kaphar tackles a violent history, rendering it visible in a modified portrait in order to question the Eurocentric viewpoint from which art history has traditionally been explored. Commanding our visual intelligence, the present work thus seeks to shift the viewer’s gaze, refocusing our attention instead on the mechanisms that brought about the images very existence within the canon of European Old Master painting. In focusing on Catholic iconography, Kaphar exposes the assumptions in art history whilst simultaneously questioning that which has been annulled from our collects ive visual memory; in other words, the racial representation of biblical figures. In doing so, Kaphar proposes the simple question: what is the impact of these paintings?

Powerfully appropriating images from American and European paintings, Kaphar confronts history by dismantling and reconfiguring classical structures within Western visual representation. By poignantly dislodging entrenched narratives from their past to understand and estimate their impact on the present, Kaphar spotlights the racial and social injustices that continue today.