Greetings SOTAns,

We hope you are all keeping well. In light of the recent social unrest in the Twin Cities, we are discussing a similar situation that happened in Los Angeles in 1965–The Watts Riots (aka the Watts Rebellion). Similarly to the unjust story of George Floyd in Minneapolis, these riots started with the arrest of a black man by a white officer and lead to community rebellion against systemic oppression against POC communities. The artist, Noah Purifoy, was a resident of Los Angeles and created sculptures out of the refuse from the riots. He later moved to Joshua Tree and spent the rest of his life creating assemblage art, resulting in his outdoor art museum, which we reviewed in the fall of 2018. We wanted to share more of his story, highlighting how his great art career was catalyzed by a striking social upheaval and how his legacy continues on through his art.

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