Written by: April Lacey | June 14, 2022
Prior to receiving this internship opportunity, I had not heard of Joe Minter. So once I received it, I immediately began to familiarize myself with him and his work. A lot of what I found was really surface-level information, including where he’s from, what he does and a few pictures. After viewing some of his works online, I had an idea of the conceptual concentration of his works. I could tell that he was a man of faith because a lot of his painted pieces mentioned Jesus. I saw a lot of references to the “African Village,” and knowing that he’s from Birmingham led me to believe that a part of his work would be dedicated to bringing attention to racism in both Alabama and America as a whole. The “Souls Grown Deep” website features a segment on Joe Minter which includes his autobiography, and it allowed me to get a glimpse into who he is and what his work is collectively inspired by. He goes into detail about his parents, upbringing, career history, his wife, and most importantly, his work. When I first saw his work, my initial thought was “why does he use the objects he uses?”.
Once I began to study his work, it wasn’t what I had anticipated. A lot of what I’m used to seeing when I hear the word “sculpture” is bronze, marble, iron and other metals, much of which is sculpted by hand. Seeing Mr. Minter’s work was a breath of fresh air because it was nothing like what I was expecting. He took already made objects and configured them to fit his own image. As he stated in his autobiography, for eleven years he worked with metal, which consisted of making furniture, exercise equipment, taking cars apart, and then using those same parts to build trucks and other objects. That’s when it dawned on me. Although he states that he uses things that are typically thrown away, a lot of his work is made with different types of metal. After engaging with his works, interviews, and research about him, I think it’s safe to imply that he has his own relationship with the many materials he chooses to use because he’s so familiar with the elements of them. He goes further into detail on his choice of material and says, “The whole idea handed down to me by God is to use that which has been discarded, just as we as a people have been discarded and made invisible.” He goes on to talk about how the spirit of everyone who has ever touched the materials/objects that are now in his possession, are still a part of that object. Hearing his perspective of the objects made me look at his work a little bit differently because it made me realize that even the smallest object could have the biggest purpose. That is what I love about Mr. Minter’s work. He takes what some people would consider as “nothing” and he turns it into something.
I was recently able to see Mr. Minters yard for the first time, and although he was not home to show me around, I still got a good sense of everything. Once you turn down his block, in a way, his work makes up its own little neighborhood. You immediately see signs and attention-grabbing words such as: Jesus, his phrase “God, Love, Peace”, Africa, Slavery, and USA which essentially is the focus of most of his work. After researching his work and viewing some of his interviews, he mentions a lot how the children are going to be the change for the next generations to come. He believes the children are going to lead the revolution. Along with the many different signs and assemblages that Mr. Minter put together in his neighborhood, you also see lots of baby dolls and doll heads which puts further emphasis on children being the change. Whilst researching Joe Minter over the course of four weeks, I have developed not only a better understanding of his work but a greater appreciation of art – it is truly the language of the universe.