Create Birmingham, in partnership with narrative studio 1504, Navigate Affordable Housing Partners, and sculptor Joe Minter, will produce In Our Own Backyard: A Celebration of Joe Minter. In October, 20-30 of Minter’s pieces will be featured in a groundbreaking exhibition inside of The Marc Steel Building, a historic warehouse in Birmingham’s Titusville community. This site is significant to Mr. Minter’s family history and Birmingham’s industrial history, as well as the lives of other prominent artists in Mr. Minter’s peer group, including artist and musician Lonnie Holley and artist Thornton Dial. The exhibit will be developed collaboratively by 1504 and Mr. Minter, with creative support from curator Matt Arnett and Mr. Holley.

Mr. Minter has lived in the Titusville community for more than fifty years where he has created the sprawling African Village in America on the half-acre property around his home. Part sculpture garden and part memorial, this art environment is filled with sculptures made from scrap metal and found materials. Its theme is recognition of African American history from the first arrivals of captured Africans through slavery to the convict labor system and the Civil Rights Movement to the systemic racism and violence that persists today.