Joe Minter

Joe Minter (born March 28, 1943) is an African American sculptor based in Birmingham, Alabama. His African Village in America, on the southwest edge of Birmingham, is an ever-evolving art environment populated by sculptures he makes from scrap metal and found materials; its theme is recognition of African American history from the first arrivals of captured Africans to the present.

Artistic practice African Village in America Situated on the southwest edge of Birmingham, Alabama, Minter's African Village in America was initiated in the late 1980s and constructed over 30 years. Serving as a sculpture garden, history museum, and memorial, the African Village in America represents a continually evolving art environment. Minter's sculptures address a wide range of themes and influences. For instance, one sculpture commemorates the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, while another is dedicated to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The central message of Minter's work is to acknowledge the 388,000 Africans forcibly transported to America and to honor their descendants who contributed to building and defending the nation. The sculptures collectively narrate the experiences of African Americans across centuries, from the griots and warriors of West Africa to the victims of the 1963 bombing at the 16th Street Baptist Church. 2019 – Whitney Biennial – Whitney Museum of American Art – curated by Rujeko Hockley and Jane Panetta 2018 – History Refused to Die: Highlights from the Souls Grown Deep Foundation Gift - Metropolitan Museum of Art 2018 - Revelations: Art from the African American South - de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA 2018 - Joe Minter: Once That River Starts to Flow - Atlanta Contemporary, Atlanta, Georgia 2017 - The Road Less Traveled Exhibition Series. American Sites: Art Environment Photography - The John Michael Kholer Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI 2015 - History Refused to Die - Alabama Contemporary Art Center, Mobile, AL 2014 - When Stars Begin to Fall: Imagination and the American South - Studio Museum in Harlem, New York 2007 - Alabama Folk Art - Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, Alabama 2004 - Coming Home: Self-Taught Artists, the Bible, and the American South - Art Museum of the University of Memphis, Memphis, TN

Permanent collections National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL Minneapolis Institute of Art

Selected publications Finley, Cheryl; Griffey, Randall R.; Peck, Amelia; Pinckney, Darry. My Soul Has Grown Deep: Black Art from the American South. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2018 Anglin Burgard, Timothy (Editor), Thornton Dial (Contributor), Lonnie Holley (Contributor), Joe Minter (Contributor), Lauren Palmor (Contributor). Revelations: Art from the African American South, Prestel, 2017 Horace Randall Williams (Author), Karen Wilkin (Author), Sharon Holland (Author), William S. Arnett (Introduction), Bernard Herman (Contributor). History Refused to Die: The Enduring Legacy of African American Art in Alabama, Tinwood Books, 2015 Crown, Carol, ed. Coming Home: Self-Taught Artists, the Bible, and the American South, Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 2004 Arnett, William and Paul Arnett, eds. Souls Grown Deep: African American Vernacular Art of the South, vol. II, Atlanta: Tinwood Books, 2001