Titus Kaphar approached his first film the way he would any other work of art. The Kalamazoo, MI native is a painter and mixed-media artist whose work examines Black presence and absence, visibility and erasure. Often carving into and reconstructing his canvases, Kaphar navigates daunting social and political themes through the lens of personal experience. He received an MFA from the Yale School of Art and is a distinguished recipient of numerous awards including a 2018 MacArthur Fellowship, a 2018 Art for Justice Fund grant, a 2016 Robert R. Rauschenberg Artist as Activist grant, and a 2015 Creative Capital grant. His decorations are bought and paid for with inimitable talent, ingenuity, and – as his first film illustrates– blood and tears.
In 2016, Kaphar developed The Jerome Project – a mixed media series drawn from his own reckoning with his estranged father. That investigation has evolved into a full-feature film, Exhibiting Forgiveness, which opened at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival in January and hit theaters across the country late last month.
Exhibiting Forgiveness follows main character, Tarrell (played by André Holland) through his family and professional life as an admired American artist. Navigating the demands of both, he is confronted with the resurfacing of his father, La’Ron (portrayed by John Earl Jelks), who has been absent from his life for many years following a turbulent past. The storyline mirror’s Kaphar’s own history and splays open fissures familiar to many Black families, fractured and torn apart by the crack epidemic of the 1980s and ‘90s. While the film digs into these very hard realities, it is a cinematic jewel that finds itself far from trauma-porn. The narrative’s sharp edges are softened by meticulously curated scenes, vividly woven together with color, lighting and set design; Titus Kaphar’s own panoramic paintings, and dialogue that leaves ample room for viewers to mold their own conclusions.
Kaphar created the film as a way to unpack his own troubled past with his father for his two young sons, who are now teenagers. He approached filmmaking like any other body of work – listening, processing, painting, and writing interchangeably to build a story. He actually taught lead actor, André Holland, to paint for three months before filming began. The exhibited paintings, and the act of art-making, are such important stars of the story that Kaphar wanted to ensure those scenes would be believable, and real.
Exhibiting Forgiveness informs us that, years later, whether it’s in dreams or reality, individuals and families are still reeling, filling in gaps, and in search of recovery from the decades-long trail left behind by the crack era. While the streets may no longer be littered with vials, the aftermath is internal. These private struggles have been longstanding, and our souls are indelibly scarred.
At the Sundance premiere, Holland shared that moments in the script struck chords for the entire cast during the filming of Exhibiting Forgiveness. He describes the work as an “invitation” and a “gift” for us all to process things we may be going through. As I watched at the AMC Magic Johnson Theater in Harlem, a man sitting two seats down bawled for almost the entire movie. He was Caucasian. While this pain is mostly ours, these we are reminded that these family dynamics are not ours alone. In his directorial debut, Kaphar reveals very human moments that have been rarely embraced with such combined intensity and grace. He hopes this film will create space for dialogue, healing and, perhaps even forgiveness.
The cast features Andra Day, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, John Earl Jelks, and André Holland as the lead character. Visit exhibitingforgiveness.com for showtimes in your area.
