Locked Up Their Minds
Purvis Young American
Not on view
Young lived in a predominantly African American neighborhood of Miami called Overtown, on a street with abandoned bakeries known as Goodbread Alley. Inspired by the proliferation of mural movements across the United States (especially in communities of color) in the late 1960s, Young began his own project on the street. Hundreds of murals, including Locked Up Their Minds, covered the building facades. Painted on scavenged detritus from the neighborhood, they exemplify his art’s gestural brushwork, dynamic black figures, and vibrant color palette. In this work, the bottom figures lift padlocks above their heads, as if presenting them to the angels above. The figures and angels are separated by two imposing horses, which in Young’s visual language represent power and freedom.
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