Titus Kaphar quotes
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“That's the nature of representation; every time we represent something we alter it and slightly change it. And so with that as my foundation, understanding that it's always fictional to some degree, I give myself a certain freedom to really explore and ask myself questions. What might not have been understood at that time? What might have been hidden at that time? What narrative in this particular image wasn't the primary image, but is really important? That is really interesting to me, and then I try to tease that out as much as I can.”
-- Titus Kaphar -
“I'm not saying that things now aren't better for black people. Thank God they're definitely better, but some things are still the same. "Better" is not good enough - it's not. Especially when "better" still means my life is at risk.”
-- Titus Kaphar -
“All of depiction is fiction, it's only a question of degree. When we think of images, such as the signing of the declaration of independence, we think of that wonderful John Trumbull painting Declaration of Independence that is at the Yale Art Gallery and on the back of our money. When we think of that historical moment we think of that image. That image never happened like that. All of those people were never in that room together to sign that paper. It's a beautiful fiction to help us have an understanding of what went on.”
-- Titus Kaphar -
“History is a continuum, it's not these separate moments. That's how we look at it. In the 1700s in Virginia before there were police officers - there were these groups of men who would wander the countryside - and if they saw a black man or a black woman they would presume that that black man or woman was a slave. If you didn't have the kind of pass that you were supposed to have, then you could be whipped, you could be enslaved, you could be taken into custody - even if you were free. And as I'm reading this I find myself thinking, "How is this any different from stop-and-frisk?"”
-- Titus Kaphar -
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“Television gives us the gift to see ourselves as we'd like to be seen.”
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Source : "Ştiinţa antisemitismului ("The Science of Anti-Semitism")". "Apararea Nationala" ("The National Defense") No. 16, Nov. 15, 1922.
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Source : "The Trouble Makers: Dissent over Foreign Policy, 1792-1939". Book by A. J. P. Taylor, "The Radical Tradition: Fox, Paine, and Cobbett", p. 14, 1957.
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“He gives me the hairy eyeball, and asks me to help him find his pancreas.”
Source : A. Lee Martinez (2006). “Gil's All Fright Diner”, p.49, Macmillan
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“I like an interesting movie even if it's controversial or offensive, depending on your taste.”
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“Memory only becomes interesting through its struggle with forgetfulness.”
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Source : Speech at the Ceremony to Inaugurate the Restored Humayun's Tomb Gardens, New Delhi, India, April 15, 2003.
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“The improvement of the mind improves the heart and corrects the understanding.”
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