My name is Titus Kaphar, and I'm an artist.

Oftentimes, when people look at my work, they think of it in terms of being historical, political—and to some degree, that's true. But it's always incredibly personal as well. This painting is probably one of the most personal.

So in this painting, what you're seeing directly is a protest happening: Black men with their hands raised at night under the streetlights, individuals in the crowd recording, holding their phones in the air. And then, at the same time, this incident that you are seeing is simultaneously being erased. The experiences of these individuals are being taken away; they're being diminished; they're being quieted.

I was approached by Time Magazine to make a cover image for the Ferguson protests. I felt uncomfortable with that request, because, from personal experience, I knew that the issues involved in Ferguson went far beyond Missouri. These kinds of things were happening in New York, in Philadelphia, in Chicago. These kinds of incidents are happening all over the country.

And I know this because I have personally found myself at the end of police aggression, and this particular painting speaks to one of the more recent occasions of this. My brother and I were walking down the street of Chelsea, and to make a long story short, two undercover police officers pulled us over, with their hands on their guns, and accused us of stealing art out of the galleries in Chelsea. There's more to the story, of course. I'm still here. It didn't end the way that it ended with Michael Brown, but I did have that same fear that he must have had. I was watching the police officers hold their guns and accuse me of something that was impossible, since the artwork I was looking at actually belonged to me.

There's no way that you could know that story or glean that story from simply looking at the work. In fact, I don't believe that it's necessary for a positive experience with the painting itself. But I hope that me sharing this with you gives some insight to things you've seen on television or read in the paper. I hope that relaying the story helps you think about ways that we can all work together toward bringing a sense of valued citizenship for all Americans. This piece is titled "Another Fight for Remembrance." This piece is a reminder that when the news stops talking about this issue, it does not mean that it's no longer happening.