The large format painting State number one, Marcus Bullock (2019) is linked to the artist’s ongoing series, The Jerome Project, started in 2014. In these works, Kaphar reinterprets the style of Byzantine religious icons—contemplative portraits of holy figures nestled within gold leaf—by changing the subjects to incarcerated African American men. In original works from The Jerome Project, Kaphar created a series of 97 small, devotional scale portraits sourced from public mugshot websites and dipped in tanks of tar at a depth reflective of the subject’s time served in prison. Kaphar reserved larger scale works for portraits of individuals close to him, including family and friends who suffered the same fate as these men. In this work, Marcus looks directly ahead with a serious and concerned expression. His brown skin glows with a light matched by the reflective gold leaf that surrounds the softness of his hair. The gold-speckled tar at the bottom of the painting covers just enough of his jaw to deny the possibility of speech.

Relegated to silence, the viewer must discern his story in the contrast between radiance and punishment. State number one, Marcus and a selection of works on paper are part of a further exploration of the subject of criminal justice reform, titled Redaction. A collaboration with poet and legal scholar Reginald Dwayne Betts, portraits in juxtaposition with poetic redactions create an arresting image of the criminal justice system, asking the public to both see and listen. This body of work was exhibited at MOMA PS1 in Spring 2019.