Artist Titus Kaphar’s debut film, Exhibiting Forgiveness, will be in theaters October 18.

You’re an established painter, but Exhibiting Forgiveness is your first film. How does that feel?

Being a beginner is a critical part of my artistic practice. A few years ago I did a project that required me to learn how to blow glass, and that was an amazing experience. Pushing myself to do things that I don’t know how to do is a very productive space, a very creative space, to exist in.

I don’t imagine you have loads of free time. What made you decide to make a movie?

It developed over several years, and in some ways that’s why it exists. If I had sat down and plotted this out, I probably would have told myself, “Don’t do it, man.” But because it was something that evolved over a long period of time, that evolution was gradual and, in many ways, necessary.

The film is somewhat based on your own life. What has it been like to share such a personal story with audiences?

Film is accessible in a different way from painting. I have work in the Met, at MoMA, in the Whitney’s collection, at the Chicago Art Institute, and I’m honored to be in those museums, but the folks I grew up with don’t generally go to the Met. To be able to make a piece of art that has the reach of something like this is extraordinary.

These stories appear in the October 2024 issue of Town & Country. SUBSCRIBE NOW

Adam Rathe is Town & Country‘s Deputy Features Director, covering arts and culture and a range of other subjects.