Two-story mural honoring Black Arts Movement poet to be unveiled in Indianapolis

Etheridge Knight influenced many with his poetry and free workshops. Elio Mercado, the artist who created the mural, expressed gratitude for the chance to honor him.

Etheridge Knight, a poet associated with the Black Arts Movement, will soon have a two-story mural dedicated to his life and work unveiled in Indianapolis.

The Indy Arts Council notes that Knight, who developed his poetry craft while serving time at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City in the 1960s, was a regular at the Chatterbox Jazz Club, where the mural is being painted. According to WISH-TV, Knight led free people’s poetry workshops there in the late 1980s.

Elio Mercado, a Dominican artist who created the mural, said he was grateful for the chance to honor Knight’s life via the arts at the club, which had a significant impact on his journey.

“Being able to kind of represent someone in this scale that’s so important to the community,” Mercado said, WISH reported, “I feel like it gives the community a sense of pride.”

Every part of the mural is a tiny fragment from a poem, with the arm from the yellow sweater deriving from one of his Knight’s readings at a high school. The painting depicts Knight holding a pen in his hands, Mercado said, emphasizing his love of poetry.

The mural, scheduled for dedication on June 30, is the third in the Indianapolis Bicentennial Legends series, which also features entrepreneur Madam C.J. Walker and world-renowned cyclist Marshall “Major” Taylor.

Knight graduated from what is now Martin University with a bachelor’s degree in poetry and criminal justice. He died of lung cancer in Indianapolis on March 10, 1991, and is interred in the Crown Hill Cemetery.

Mercado expresses optimism that the outdoor art will have a positive impact on every person who walks by.

“To be able to put the mural on this building,” he said, according to WISH, “it gives a little extra touch of being home where it’s supposed to be.”

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