Best Of Indy 2020: Arts And Culture – Indianapolis Monthly indianapolismonthly.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from indianapolismonthly.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Knikki Kyser
Cliff Joseph already was an artist in 1963, but his work was transformed that year when he participated in the March on Washington and heard the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. deliver his ringing “I Have a Dream” speech.
“I was so moved . . . I decided I would get out of commercial art,” the Chicago artist told an interviewer. “If I hadn’t had the inspiration that I got through the civil rights movement, I might have remained there, but this really awakened me.”
“His work became more topical,” his wife Ann said. “Throughout the years, he was inspired by Dr. King.”