Titus Kaphar was celebrated with a private reception and screening of his film Exhibiting Forgiveness at the Norton Museum of Art last week. Recently, the museum also acquired a 2023 painting by Kaphar titled, I hear you in my head, which depicts the outline of a boy pushing a lawn mower uphill. The event (and acquisition) were the result of his friendship with collector and Norton Vice Chairman Kelly Williams, and was supported by Board Members Frank Baker and Tom Dean, as well as the Contemporary Art Council. Guests included Jane Holzer, Curb Gardiner, Kim Heirston, Hilarie and Mitchell Morgan, and Juanita Moore.
The film, which tells the poignant story of a Black artist who is unexpectedly visited by his estranged father, marked the artist’s directorial debut and was inspired by his youth, when he performed hard labor to help support his family and his father’s drug addiction. “Titus Kaphar’s story of overcoming the odds to become a renowned artist is an inspiration,” said Ghislain d’Humières, the Norton’s Kenneth C. Griffin Director and CEO.
Titus Kaphar, I hear you in my head, 2023, oil on canvas.
The film was screened twice: once for the museum’s contemporary art council and Norton supporters, and once for the public as part of the Museum’s “Art After Dark” program. The latter was preceded by a conversation between Kaphar and Arden Sherman, the Norton’s Glenn W. and Cornelia T. Bailey Senior Curator of Contemporary Art.
During the talk, Sherman noted that when selecting the painting, Kaphar told her, “It’s the grand opus of the film, the final touchdown of the story,” adding there was competition for the work from several notable collectors. “It appears at the end of the film,” she said. “It’s the very last work you see during the last scene, and in it this moment, he cuts the figure out.”
“That figure is the protagonist himself as a child – the youth figure in the movie – and the older figure is rescuing that young figure from that traumatic situation,” Sherman explained. “It’s a flashback for the artist, and when the artist rescues his younger self from the memory of that hard, challenging upbringing and painful family life.”
The painting is currently on view in the Jerome and Anne Fisher Gallery of the Norton. Exhibiting Forgiveness is now streaming on Hulu, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, and Fandango At Home.