INDIANAPOLIS — The legendary Chatterbox jazz club (435 Massachusetts Ave.) will be the site of a new, two-story mural of Black Arts Movement poet Etheridge Knight (1931-1991). Knight, who became a poet while incarcerated in the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City in the 1960s, was a regular at the Chatterbox in the late 1980s and taught some of his Free People’s Poetry Workshops there.
“The mural marks Knight’s contributions to our culture,” said David Andrichik, owner of the Chatterbox since 1982. “The Chatterbox is in our 40th year of jazz, the inclusive American art form, and we support and nurture Indianapolis’ entire creative community.”
The Knight mural is the third in the City of Indianapolis Bicentennial Legends Series, and an outdoor dedication ceremony is planned for this summer. In partnership with Indiana Humanities, Indy Arts Council is commissioning an Indiana poet to reflect on Knight’s legacy.
Elio Mercado, a Sunrise, Florida-based artist, will begin painting the mural in mid-June on the east exterior of the Chatterbox. His portrait combines visual elements inspired by lines from Knight’s poetry; the mural’s color scheme takes a cue from the cover of Knight’s Belly Song and Other Poems (1973), a Pulitzer Prize-nominated work. Indianapolis-based painter Kaila Austin will assist Mercado, as part of the Bicentennial Legends apprentice program that engages local artists in creating these large-scale civic murals.
Etheridge Knight was born in Corinth Mississippi, and dropped out of high school to join the Army, where he served in the Korean War. Wounded, he returned to civilian life with injuries that lead to drug addiction. He moved to Indianapolis and engaged in crime to feed his addiction to opiates. He was convicted of robbery in 1960 and served eight years in the Indiana State Prison. While in prison, he began to write poetry, gaining the attention of Black Arts Movement poets Dudley Randall and Gwendolyn Brooks. After his release, he wrote and performed his works, garnering awards and attention. He died in Indianapolis in 1991 of lung cancer.
The EK Free Peoples Be Project is also inviting the public to support the project by making donations to a GoFundMe campaign.
