FREEDOM OF SPEECH MEANS THE GOVERNMENT CANT THROW YOU IN JAIL FOR VOICING YOUR OPINION IT DOES NOT MEAN YOUR PEERS CANNOT VIEW IT NEGATIVELY OR REPRIMAND YOU ON BEING A DICK IT DOES NOT MEAN YOUR PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT IS OBLIGED TO PUT UP WITH YOU GIVING THEM A BAD NAME IT DOES NOT MEAN YOU GET TO BE OPPRESSIVE IN YOUR WORDS AND ACTIONS THEN CRY WHEN YOU ARE CALLED OUT ON IT NOW SHUT UP FUCK PLEASE AND THANK
Jaavon and the Unknown Gentleman, 2011. Titus Kaphar. Gentleman with Negro Attendant, 1785-88. Ralph Earl
Jaavon and the Unknown Gentleman was commissioned by the New Britain Museum of American Art as a contemporary commentary on the Colonial-era work Gentleman with Negro Attendant, by Ralph Earl. The resulting painting is the first in a new series that focuses on identity. Kaphar explains:
“Much of black history recorded in Western art is summarized visually by three roles: enslaved, in servitude, or impoverished. But beyond this limited social order lies a people of dignity and strength, whose survival is nothing less than miraculous. Within the context of 19th century paintings, most black characters play, at best, secondary roles int he composition. The implication of hierarchy through compositional positioning (that is, figures in the composition) is a fundamental theme explored in this piece.
In many paintings from this period the prototypical image of a black person was as a slave or servant, just outside of illuminated areas of importance. The characters in the shadows were there to add balance to the overall composition and emphasize, or accentuate, the statue of the “important” character being painted.
In the original painting Gentleman with Negro the black child is stripped of all identity. He has no name, grotesquely articulated features, and is bereft of human dignity. In Jaavon and the Unknown Gentleman, the black figure is replaced with a living and particular child — my young neighbor.”
