A private artwork on display inside a Metro Detroit public high school is generating interest and criticism for its theme and imagery of African American motherhood.
Grosse Pointe Public School System administrators sent a letter to families this week notifying them of mixed reactions to the piece, which is owned by Grosse Pointe school board President Sean Cotton and his wife, Nancy. The artwork formerly hung at the Detroit Institute of Arts and is now on temporary display at Grosse Pointe North High School.
The artwork, by Kalamazoo-born artist Titus Kaphar, depicts a life-size Black woman holding two small children, one under each arm. She is standing inside a bedroom painted vivid shades of blue and purple. The children have been deliberately removed from the canvas, cut out with a tool and leaving a blank outline of their bodies in her arms.
Kaphar’s untitled oil painting has “elicited various emotions” across the school community, according to a Monday email from the district’s officials to North families.
The statement was signed by Superintendent Andrea Tuttle, Deputy Superintendent Roy Bishop Jr. and four North administrators.
“Some have expressed interest and excitement about the painting and its meaning and have made connections between it and their own lives, while others have expressed uncertainty, dissatisfaction or even dismay with the painting’s themes and implications,” the statement from Tuttle says.
“Recently, a parent expressed concern about the painting producing trauma for students — particularly students of color — and diminishing the hopefulness that schools aim to inspire in students,” the email said.
District spokesperson Alexa Tedeschi said Tuttle would not comment beyond the statement released this week to North families.
“Due to the relationships School Board President Sean Cotton has with emerging and renowned artists,” the school was offered the “extraordinary opportunity to house a world-class piece of art,” the statement reads.
In an interview with The Detroit News, Kaphar said he welcomes the questions and hopes to have a conversation soon with the students and staff who are viewing his artwork.
“My work begs questions. It asks questions. It’s not surprising there would be questions,” Kaphar said. “I don’t think just because there are questions we should stop having the conversation.”
Artist praises move
The colorful piece, which is about six feet tall and four feet wide, is lit and covered in glass. It was placed at the school for temporary exhibit on April 2, with the artist’s photo and information about the artwork alongside it. It comes from a body of work by Kaphar entitled “From A Tropical Space,” which was on display in 2021 at the Gagosian gallery in New York.
According to Kaphar’s website, the work “presents a haunting narrative of black motherhood wherein fear and collective trauma crescendo to the disappearance of their children. What is seen is an excision from the canvas. The absence of each small figure — whether seated in a stroller or held against a shoulder — reveals only the wall of the gallery. The intense coloration of the suburban environments only heightens a pervasive sense of tension — these are images for uncertain times.”
Cotton, who took over as president of the Grosse Pointe board of education in January, arranged for the artwork to be temporarily moved from the DIA to North High School with the artist’s permission, Kaphar told The News.
Kaphar praised Sean Cotton for loaning the piece to a school instead of purchasing it and keeping it hidden in a private collection. He said the Cottons asked him if it was OK to move the piece to a school.
“The Cottons said ‘How would you feel about this?'” Kaphar said. “I said it would be amazing. I know as a young person, I had never seen a professional artist, and I didn’t go to museums until I was an adult.”
It took extensive planning for the painting to be moved from the DIA, taking into account security, transportation and logistics for displaying and protecting it at the school, Kaphar added.
DIA spokeswoman Megan Hawthorne said the museum has one of Kaphar’s pieces in its permanent collection, but it is not currently on view. She did not respond to questions about the piece now at North.
“This is an extraordinarily rare situation,” Kaphar said. “Without the support of the principal, the DIA and the Cottons, this wouldn’t have happened. It is special and it means so much to me that this exists in a high school and the community can engage — that is not normal. … It is really, really remarkable.”
Student: Art has ‘really cool vibe’
Cotton, a businessman and attorney whose family sold Medicaid provider Meridian Health for $2.5 billion in 2018, did not respond to requests for comment from The News about why he chose North — one of two high schools in the Grosse Pointe district — for the painting to be displayed. North Principal Kate Murray also did not respond to a request for comment.
North student Claire Swartz told The News most students at the high school are not reacting to the artwork and that art is not something that gets talked about much in class.
“When I saw the painting for the first time, I was surprised by how big it is,” said Swartz, a sophomore. “The painting has a really cool vibe. I really like the blue and purple colors the artist used.”
Swartz said art is open to interpretation: “It didn’t make me think of anything, but it made me wonder what the artist was thinking while they made the painting. And I was curious how he did the cutouts.”
Swartz said she had not heard any students at school voice concerns about the painting.
“I think sometimes parents get worked up because of the times we’re living in, and they need to chill a little,” she said.
Kaphar said he is not familiar with Grosse Pointe North High School personally but was told its student body is diverse, and he is pleased his art is being seen by students of different backgrounds. The school is 59.3% White, 31.1% African American and 4% two or more races.
Kaphar said he hopes no one has been traumatized by his piece. A student at North is writing about Kaphar’s work and Kaphar is scheduled this month to give a talk to students there about the piece and working as an artist around the world.
Origins of the artwork
Kaphar’s work is on display at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It’s been featured on the cover of Time magazine and in the Studio Museum in Harlem. The DIA has two more of his works on display.
The piece now at Grosse Pointe North is part of a larger series that Kaphar created for Time Magazine’s cover in the wake of the 2020 murder of George Floyd. In that piece, a Black mother with her eyes closed is holding a child who has been cut from the canvas.
“I hope it stands as example of the kind of thing we can do with pain,” Kaphar said. “The nature of visual arts is one where there is multiple interpretations.”
The artist’s website says the canvas cutouts are to “heighten historical tensions the mothers in his paintings face. The painting is one Kaphar produced to give voice to and honor his own mother.”
Tuttle said the district seeks to “make sure all students can see themselves and their potential in all the experiences at North. We want them to believe that the next Titus Kaphar can be a North student, and we also want them to believe that North sees and desires to highlight their goodness and potential more than anything. The fact that some who experience the painting at North feel that way while others do not, is something that makes us pause and reflect.”
Tuttle’s email said the district administration will be meeting with “various stakeholders to determine what the appropriate next steps should be.”
“Caring for the educational goals and social-emotional needs of our students calls for balance and intention. We respect the power of the art and the privilege to house it at North, but we also recognize that we are responsible for how students experience school when they walk into the building.”
Greg Bowens, who started a chapter of the NAACP in Grosse Pointe and Harper Woods, told The News he wasn’t aware of the painting placed at North but hopes the artwork sparks a deeper discussion about dealing with loss.
“It’s good to hear there is living art, modern art being displayed for the kids to be able to see. And certainly, any kind of art will spark conversation, and that is what it is meant to do,” Bowens said. “This seems like ‘good trouble.'”
jchambers@detroitnews.com