ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Titus Kaphar - Artist
Titus Kaphar's artworks interact with the history of art by appropriating its styles and mediums.

Why you should listen

As Titus Kaphar says of his work: "I’ve always been fascinated by history: art history, American history, world history, individual history -- how history is written, recorded, distorted, exploited, reimagined and understood. In my work I explore the materiality of reconstructive history. I paint and I sculpt, often borrowing from the historical canon, and then alter the work in some way. 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."

Kaphar is founder/CEO of the NXTHVN, a multidisciplinary arts incubator that's being built to train professional artists and to further establish New Haven's growing creative community. His latest works are an investigation into the highest and lowest forms of recording history. From monuments to mug shots, this body of work exhibited at Jack Shainman gallery December-January 2017 seeks to collapse the line of American history to inhabit a fixed point in the present. Historical portraiture, mug shots, and YouTube stills challenge viewers to consider how we document the past, and what we have erased. Rather than explore guilt or innocence, Kaphar engages the narratives of individuals and how we as a society manage and define them over time. As a whole, this exhibition explores the power of rewritten histories to question the presumption of innocence and the mythology of the heroic.

More profile about the speaker
Titus Kaphar | Speaker | TED.com
TED2017

Titus Kaphar: Can art amend history?

Titus Kaphar: A arte consegue corrigir a história?

Filmed:
1,527,150 views

O artista Titus Kaphar faz pinturas e esculturas que lutam com o sofrimento do passado enquanto falam da diversidade e avanços do presente. Numa inesquecível oficina ao vivo, Kaphar pega um pincel cheio de tinta branca e mancha uma réplica de uma pintura do século 17 do Frans Hals, ofuscando partes de sua composição e trazendo a história escondida à mostra. Existe uma narrativa codificada nessas artes, Kaphar diz. O que acontecerá se mudarmos nosso foco e confrontarmos as verdades não faladas?
- Artist
Titus Kaphar's artworks interact with the history of art by appropriating its styles and mediums. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:12
I love museums.
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Eu amo museus.
00:16
Have you guys ever been
to the Natural History Museum?
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Vocês já foram ao Museu
Americano de História Natural
00:19
In New York City?
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em Nova Iorque?
00:20
(Applause)
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(Aplausos)
00:22
So one of the things that I do
is I take my kids to the museum.
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Uma coisa que faço é levar
meus filhos ao museu.
Recentemente, os levei ao Museu
Americano de História Natural.
00:27
Recently I took them
to the Natural History Museum.
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00:30
I had my two sons with me,
Sabian and Dabith.
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Estava com meus dois filhos,
Sabian e Dabith.
00:33
And we go into the front
entrance of the museum,
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Fomos à entrada da frente do museu,
00:36
and there's that amazing sculpture
of Teddy Roosevelt out there.
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e lá tem uma escultura incrível
do Teddy Roosevelt.
00:39
You guys know which one I'm talking about.
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Vocês sabem de qual falo.
00:41
Teddy Roosevelt is sitting there
with one hand on the horse,
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O Teddy Roosevelt está sentado lá,
com uma mão no cavalo,
00:45
bold, strong, sleeves rolled up.
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ousado, forte, preparado para o trabalho.
00:47
I don't know if he's bare-chested,
but it kind of feels like it.
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Não sei se está com o peito nú,
mas era o que parecia.
00:50
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
00:51
And on the left-hand side of him
is a Native American walking.
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E, do seu lado esquerdo,
há um nativo dos EUA andando.
00:56
And on the right-hand side of him
is an African-American walking.
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Do seu lado direito,
tem um afro-americano andando.
01:01
And as we're moving up the stairs,
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Enquanto subíamos as escadas,
01:05
getting closer to the sculpture,
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chegando perto da escultura,
01:08
my oldest son, who's nine, says,
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meu filho mais velho de nove anos diz:
01:10
"Dad, how come he gets to ride,
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"Pai, por que é ele que cavalga,
01:15
and they have to walk?"
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e eles que tem que andar?"
01:18
It stopped me in my tracks.
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Isso me paralisou.
01:20
It stopped me in my tracks.
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Fiquei paralisado.
01:22
There was so much history
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Tinha tanta história
01:24
that we would have to go through
to try to explain that,
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que teríamos que estudar
para tentar explicar,
01:26
and that's something
I try to do with them anyways.
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e de qualquer maneira,
já tento fazer isso com eles.
01:30
It's a question that I probably
would have never really asked.
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É uma pergunta que nunca
pensaria em fazer.
01:34
But fundamentally what he was saying was,
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Mas, basicamente,
o que ele queria dizer era:
01:36
"That doesn't look fair.
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"Isso não é justo.
01:38
Dad, that doesn't look fair.
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Pai, isso não é justo.
01:41
And why is this thing that's so not fair
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E por que essa coisa que não é nada justa
01:43
sitting outside
of such an amazing institution."
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está do lado de fora
dessa instituição tão incrível?"
01:47
And his question got me wondering,
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A pergunta dele me intrigou:
01:49
is there a way for us
to amend our public sculptures,
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será que há algum jeito de corrigirmos
as nossas esculturas públicas
01:54
our national monuments?
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e nossos monumentos nacionais?
01:56
Not erase them,
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Não apagá-los,
01:58
but is there a way to amend them?
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mas é possível corrigi-los?
02:00
Now, I didn't grow up going to museums.
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Não cresci visitando museus.
02:05
That's not my history.
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Não faz parte da minha história.
02:07
My mother was 15 years old
when I was born.
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Minha mãe tinha 15 anos quando nasci.
02:09
She is amazing.
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Ela é incrível.
02:12
My father was struggling
with his own things
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Meu pai passava por suas
próprias dificuldades
02:14
for most of my life.
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por boa parte da minha vida.
02:17
If you really want to know the truth,
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Se quiser mesmo saber a verdade,
02:19
the only reason I got into art
is because of a woman.
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foi por causa de uma mulher
que quis estudar arte.
02:23
There was this amazing, amazing,
fantastic, beautiful, smart woman,
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Uma mulher incrível,
fantástica, linda e inteligente,
quatro anos mais velha que eu,
02:28
four years older than me,
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02:30
and I wanted to go out with her.
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e eu queria sair com ela.
02:32
But she said, "You're too young
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Mas ela disse: "Você é jovem demais
e não está pensando no seu futuro".
02:33
and you're not thinking
about your future."
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02:35
So I ran on down to the junior college,
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Daí, saí correndo atrás
de um colégio de ensino superior,
02:39
registered for some classes,
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me matriculei em umas aulas,
02:41
ran on back,
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corri de volta,
02:43
and basically was like,
"I'm thinking about my future now."
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e disse simplesmente:
"Estou pensando no futuro agora".
02:46
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
02:48
"Can we go out?"
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"Sai comigo?"
02:51
For the record, she's even more amazing.
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Só pra constar, ela é muito mais incrível.
02:53
I married her.
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Eu casei com ela.
02:54
(Applause)
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(Aplausos)
03:00
So when I randomly ran down
to the junior college
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Quando corri para a escola
de ensino superior
e me matriculei naquelas aulas,
03:05
and registered for classes,
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03:06
I really wasn't paying attention
to what I was registering to.
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não estava prestando atenção
em que aulas me matriculava.
03:10
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
03:11
So I ended up with an art history class,
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Acabei entrando numa aula
de história da arte,
03:14
and I didn't know a thing
about art history.
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e não sabia nada sobre a história da arte.
03:17
But something amazing happened
when I went into that class.
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Mas aconteceu uma coisa incrível
quando cheguei na aula.
03:21
For the first time in my academic career,
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Pela primeira vez
na minha carreira acadêmica,
03:25
my visual intelligence was required of me.
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exigiram da minha inteligência visual.
03:28
For the first time.
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Pela primeira vez.
03:30
The professor would put up an image,
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O professor nos mostrava uma imagem
03:32
bold strokes of blues and yellows,
and say, "Who's that?"
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com pinceladas fortes de azuis e amarelos,
perguntando: "Quem é esse?"
03:36
And I'd go, "That's Van Gogh.
Clearly that is Van Gogh.
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E eu respondia: "Van Gogh.
Claramente é Van Gogh.
03:39
I got this."
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Deixa comigo!".
03:41
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
03:43
I got a B in that class.
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Tirei um 8,0 na aula.
03:46
For me, that was amazing.
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Para mim, isso foi incrível.
03:50
In high school, let's just say
I wasn't a great student. OK?
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Digamos que não era o melhor
estudante no ensino médio, beleza?
03:54
In high school, my GPA was .65.
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A minha média no ensino médio era 3,0.
03:57
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
03:58
Decimal point first, six five.
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Isso mesmo: um três depois um zero.
04:02
So me getting a B was huge, huge,
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Então, conseguir
um 8,0 foi extraordinário,
04:07
absolutely huge.
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simplesmente incrível.
04:08
And because of the fact that I realized
that I was able to learn things visually
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Daí, percebi que eu conseguia
entender visualmente as coisas
que antes não entendia de outras formas.
04:13
that I couldn't learn in other ways,
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04:15
this became my strategy,
this became my tactic
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Essa virou a minha estratégia e tática
04:18
for understanding everything else.
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para entender todo o resto.
04:21
I wanted to stay in this relationship.
Things were going well.
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Queria continuar no relacionamento,
as coisas iam bem...
04:24
I decided, let me keep taking
these art history classes.
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e decidi continuar nas aulas
de história da arte.
Nunca me esquecerei de uma das minhas
últimas aulas de história da arte.
04:27
One of the last art history classes,
I will not forget, I will never forget.
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Foi um daqueles aulões.
04:31
It was one of those survey
art history classes.
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04:33
Anybody ever have one of those
survey art history classes,
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Alguém já participou de um desses
aulões de história da arte,
04:36
where they try to teach you
the entire history of art
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em que eles tentam te ensinar
toda a história da arte
04:38
in a single semester?
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num só semestre?
04:40
I'm talking about cave paintings
and Jackson Pollock
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Tô falando de pinturas
de caverna e Jackson Pollock
04:45
just crunched together all in the same --
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todos juntos num mesmo semestre...
04:47
It doesn't really work,
but they try anyway.
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Não funciona de verdade,
mas eles tentam.
04:51
Well, at the beginning of the semester,
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No começo do semestre,
04:54
I looked at the book,
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vi que nosso livro
04:55
and in this 400-page book
was about a 14-page section
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de 400 páginas,
tinha uma seção de 14 páginas
04:59
that was on black people in painting.
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sobre pessoas negras na pintura.
05:01
Now, this was a crammed in section
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O curso era todo apressado,
05:03
that had representations
of black people in painting
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mas tinha representações
de pessoas negras na pintura
05:07
and black people who painted.
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e de negros que pintavam.
05:10
It was poorly curated,
let's just put it that way.
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Só que vamos só dizer
que a curadoria era horrível.
05:15
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
05:16
Nonetheless I was really excited about it,
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Mesmo assim, estava muito animado,
05:19
because in all
the other classes that I had,
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pois em todas as outras aulas que tive,
05:21
we didn't even have that conversation.
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nem sequer falamos sobre isso.
05:25
We didn't talk about it at all.
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Não falamos nada.
05:27
So imagine my surprise
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Pensem na minha surpresa,
05:29
when I get to class
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quando fui à aula
05:31
and on the day that we're supposed
to go over that particular chapter,
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e no dia que iríamos estudar
aquele capítulo específico,
05:35
my professor announces,
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minha professora diz:
05:38
"We're going to skip this chapter today
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"Vamos pular este capítulo hoje
05:40
because we do not have time
to go through it."
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pois não há tempo para estudá-lo".
05:42
"Whoa, I'm sorry,
hold on, professor, professor.
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"Uau, me desculpe, professora, mas calma.
05:45
I'm sorry. This is a really
important chapter to me.
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Sinto muito, mas esse capítulo
é muito importante para mim.
05:49
Are we going to go over it at any point?"
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Vamos estudá-lo alguma hora?"
05:51
"Titus, we don't have time for this."
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"Titus, não temos tempo pra isso".
05:53
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry,
I'm sorry, I'm sorry,
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"Desculpe, sinto muito...
05:55
please, I really need to understand.
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por favor, preciso entender.
05:57
Clearly the author thinks
that this is significant.
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Claramente o autor acha
que isso é relevante.
05:59
Why are we skipping over this?"
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Por que iremos pulá-lo?"
06:01
"Titus, I do not have time for this."
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"Titus, não tenho tempo pra isso".
06:03
"OK, last question, I'm really sorry here.
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"Beleza, última pergunta.
Desculpa de novo.
06:05
When can we talk,
because we need to talk."
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Quando podemos conversar?
Pois precisamos".
06:07
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
06:09
I went to her office hours.
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Fui ao escritório dela depois.
06:11
I ended up getting kicked
out of her office.
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E acabei sendo expulso de lá.
06:14
I went to the dean.
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Daí, fui direto ao reitor.
O reitor finalmente me disse:
"Não posso forçá-la a ensinar nada".
06:15
The dean finally told me,
"I can't force her to teach anything."
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06:18
And I knew in that moment
if I wanted to understand this history,
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Naquele momento percebi
que, se quisesse entender aquela história,
06:23
if I wanted to understand the roles
of those folks who had to walk,
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se quisesse entender o papel daquelas
pessoas que tinham que andar,
06:27
I was probably going
to have to figure that out myself.
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eu teria que pesquisar eu mesmo.
06:33
So ...
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Então...
06:39
above you right here on the slide
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acima de vocês neste eslaide
06:43
is a painting by Frans Hals.
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está um quadro do Frans Hals.
06:47
This is one of the kinds of images
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Esta é uma das imagens
06:51
that was in that chapter.
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que estavam naquele capítulo.
06:55
I taught myself how to paint
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Eu aprendi a pintar
06:57
by going to museums
and looking at images like this.
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indo a museus e olhando
pinturas como essa.
07:03
I want to show you something.
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Quero mostrar algo a vocês.
07:18
I made this.
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Eu que fiz isso.
07:20
I --
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Eu...
07:21
(Applause)
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(Aplausos)
07:23
I made some alterations.
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Fiz algumas alterações.
07:24
You'll see there are
some slight differences in the painting.
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Dá pra ver que há pequenas
diferenças no quadro.
07:28
All this art history
that I had been absorbing
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Toda a história da arte que aprendi
07:33
helped me to realize
that painting is a language.
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me ajudou a perceber
que a pintura é uma linguagem.
07:41
There is a reason
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Tem um porquê
07:47
why he is the highest
in the composition here.
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de esta pessoa ser a mais
alta da composição.
07:57
There is a reason
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Tem um porquê
08:01
why the painter is showing us
this gold necklace here.
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de o pintor nos mostrar
este colar dourado.
08:08
He's trying to tell us something
about the economic status
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Ele está tentando nos dizer algo
sobre o poder econômico
08:11
of these people in these paintings.
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das pessoas no quadro.
08:16
Painting is a visual language
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A pintura é uma linguagem visual
08:20
where everything in the painting
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onde tudo no quadro
08:23
is meaningful, is important.
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é importante e relevante.
08:26
It's coded.
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É codificado.
08:32
But sometimes, because
of the compositional structure,
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Mas, às vezes, por causa da estrutura
e da hierarquia composicional,
08:35
because of compositional hierarchy,
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08:38
it's hard to see other things.
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é difícil ver as outras coisas.
Esta seda está aí para nos dizer
que eles têm bastante dinheiro.
08:56
This silk is supposed to tell us also
that they have quite a bit of money.
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09:02
There's more written
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Tem mais coisa escrita
09:04
about dogs in art history
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sobre cachorros na história da arte
09:08
than there are about
this other character here.
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do que sobre este outro personagem.
09:13
Historically speaking,
in research on these kinds of paintings,
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Falando historicamente,
ao pesquisar esses tipos de quadros,
09:16
I can find out more about the lace
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consigo achar mais sobre o laço
09:20
that the woman is wearing
in this painting --
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que essa mulher está o usando no quadro
09:23
the manufacturer of the lace --
than I can about this character here,
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e sobre o fabricante do laço
do que sobre esse personagem aqui,
09:28
about his dreams, about his hopes,
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ou sobre seus sonhos, esperanças,
09:30
about what he wanted out of life.
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e seus desejos na vida.
09:35
I want to show you something.
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Quero lhes mostrar algo.
09:39
I don't want you to think
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Não quero que achem
09:41
that this is about eradication.
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que estou falando de erradicação.
09:45
It's not.
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Não estou.
09:46
The oil that you saw me
just put inside of this paint
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O óleo que vocês me viram
colocar no quadro
09:50
is linseed oil.
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é óleo de linhaça.
09:51
It becomes transparent over time,
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Ele fica transparente com o tempo
09:54
so eventually what's going to happen
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e, no fim das contas,
09:57
is these faces
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esses rostos
10:00
will emerge a little bit.
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irão reaparecer aos poucos.
10:04
What I'm trying to do,
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O que quero fazer,
10:06
what I'm trying to show you,
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o que tento mostrar,
10:08
is how to shift your gaze just slightly,
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é como mudar seu olhar levemente,
10:11
just momentarily,
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momentaneamente,
10:13
just momentarily,
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só passageiramente,
10:15
to ask yourself the question,
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para que vocês se perguntem:
10:18
why do some have to walk?
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por que é que alguns tem que andar?
10:20
What is the impact of these kinds
of sculptures at museums?
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Qual é o impacto desse tipo
de escultura nos museus?
10:24
What is the impact
of these kinds of paintings
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Qual é o impacto desses tipos de quadro
10:28
on some of our most vulnerable in society,
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em algumas de nossas
sociedades mais vulneráveis,
10:31
seeing these kinds of depictions
of themselves all the time?
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ao ver este tipo de representação
deles mesmos o tempo todo?
10:35
I'm not saying erase it.
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Não quero apagar nada.
10:37
We can't erase this history.
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Não há como apagar a história.
10:39
It's real. We have to know it.
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Ela é real. Temos que conhecê-la.
10:41
I think of it in the same way
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Eu vejo isso da mesma forma
10:43
we think of --
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que vejo o...
10:47
Let me step back a second.
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Vamos voltar um pouco.
10:49
You remember old-school cameras,
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Lembra daquelas câmeras antigas
10:52
where when you took a picture,
you actually had to focus. Right?
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que ao tirarmos uma foto,
tínhamos que realmente focar?
10:55
You'd put the camera up,
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Eu pegaria a câmera,
10:56
and if I wanted you in focus,
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e se quisesse você no foco,
10:58
I would move the lens a little to the left
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moveria a lente um pouco para a esquerda
e você apareceria na frente.
11:00
and you would come forward.
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11:02
I could move the lens
a little to the right,
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Ou moveria a lente um pouco para a direta,
11:04
and you would go back and the folks
in the background would come out.
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e você iria para trás e as pessoas
no fundo surgiriam.
11:07
I'm just trying to do that here.
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2016
É isso que estou tentando fazer.
11:09
I'm trying to give you that opportunity.
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Quero lhes dar esta oportunidade.
11:13
I'm trying to answer that question
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Estou tentando responder àquela pergunta
11:15
that my son had.
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que meu filho fez.
11:20
I want to make paintings,
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1976
Quero pintar quadros,
11:22
I want to make sculptures
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quero fazer esculturas
11:24
that are honest,
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que são honestas,
11:26
that wrestle with
the struggles of our past
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que lutam com o sofrimento
de nosso passado,
11:31
but speak to the diversity
and the advances of our present.
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mas falam sobre a diversidade
e os avanços de nosso presente.
Não conseguiremos fazer isso
se só apagarmos e nos livrarmos de coisas.
11:36
And we can't do that by taking an eraser
and getting rid of stuff.
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11:40
That's just not going to work.
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Isso não funcionará.
11:41
I think that we should
do it in the same way
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Temos que fazer da mesma maneira
11:43
the American Constitution works.
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que a Constituição dos EUA faz.
11:45
When we have a situation
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Ao termos uma situação
11:46
where we want to change
a law in the American Constitution,
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em que temos que mudar
alguma lei na Constituição.
11:50
we don't erase the other one.
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Nós não apagamos a lei.
11:53
Alongside that is an amendment,
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Anexamos a uma emenda,
11:55
something that says,
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e ela diz:
11:57
"This is where we were,
but this is where we are right now."
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"Estávamos lá, mas agora, aqui".
12:01
I figure if we can do that,
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Acho que, se fizermos isso,
12:03
then that will help us
understand a little bit
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isso irá nos ajudar
a entender um pouco mais
12:06
about where we're going.
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sobre aonde iremos.
12:38
Thank you.
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Obrigado.
12:39
(Applause)
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(Aplausos)

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Titus Kaphar - Artist
Titus Kaphar's artworks interact with the history of art by appropriating its styles and mediums.

Why you should listen

As Titus Kaphar says of his work: "I’ve always been fascinated by history: art history, American history, world history, individual history -- how history is written, recorded, distorted, exploited, reimagined and understood. In my work I explore the materiality of reconstructive history. I paint and I sculpt, often borrowing from the historical canon, and then alter the work in some way. 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."

Kaphar is founder/CEO of the NXTHVN, a multidisciplinary arts incubator that's being built to train professional artists and to further establish New Haven's growing creative community. His latest works are an investigation into the highest and lowest forms of recording history. From monuments to mug shots, this body of work exhibited at Jack Shainman gallery December-January 2017 seeks to collapse the line of American history to inhabit a fixed point in the present. Historical portraiture, mug shots, and YouTube stills challenge viewers to consider how we document the past, and what we have erased. Rather than explore guilt or innocence, Kaphar engages the narratives of individuals and how we as a society manage and define them over time. As a whole, this exhibition explores the power of rewritten histories to question the presumption of innocence and the mythology of the heroic.

More profile about the speaker
Titus Kaphar | Speaker | TED.com