Titus Kaphar
2016/1963

Although the objects depicted in Titus Kaphar’s diptych 2016/1963 might not be immediately recognizable, the work’s title and the inscriptions ‘Alabama 1963’ and ‘North Dakota 2016’ reveal their use as tools of brutal force. The work with the inscription ‘Alabama 1963’ is a painting of the nozzle of a high-pressure water jet that the Birmingham Police used against black protesters, including children, during a non-violent campaign against racial segregation led by Martin Luther King JR. during the civil rights movement. The second painting depicts the nozzles used against protestors that in 2016 opposed the plans to build the Dakota Access pipeline near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, many of whom were seriously hurt and left soaking wet during freezing temperatures. In both instances, the footage of the police’s inhumane response to non-violent protesting was broadcast globally, and these images have remained as a scar in our shared consciousness. Speaking to the longstanding impact of these acts of racially-driven cruelty, 2016/1963 is a chilling reminder that the systemic brutality endured by people of color during the civil rights movement is not something that solely remains in the past.