Titus Kaphar: Can beauty open our hearts to difficult conversations?

Can beauty open our hearts to difficult conversations?

An artwork's color or composition can pull you in -- and put you on the path to having important and difficult conversations, says artist Titus Kaphar. In this stunning talk, he reflects on his artistic evolution and takes us on a tour of his career -- from "The Jerome Project," which draws on religious icons to examine the US criminal justice system, to "From a Tropical Space," a haunting body of work that centers around Black mothers whose children have disappeared. Kaphar also shares the idea behind NXTHVN, an arts incubator and community for young people in his hometown.

Beauty in art is not just about aesthetics; it can open hearts to truths that are often overlooked or difficult to face. Paintings that center marginalized voices, like portraits of Black men impacted by incarceration or Black mothers enduring trauma, challenge historical narratives that have excluded them. When the artist discovered 97 other Black men with his father's name through mugshots, it revealed both painful repetition and a need to be seen. Art becomes a tool to amend history and confront ongoing injustices, while building creative spaces empowers the next generation to imagine new possibilities.