Lonnie Holley: The Truth of the Dirt

LONNIE HOLLEY: THE TRUTH OF THE DIRT is an intimate portrait of a self-taught African American visual artist and musical performer from Birmingham, Alabama. Lonnie began creating as a child, after receiving a horrible beating from the white men in charge of the Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children. 150 lashes from a whip across his legs immobilized him, so his mother gave him ‘art materials’ to keep him busy. With them he mimicked his grandfather, a man who created things around their home from found objects. From that moment forward, for Lonnie, any type of material was source for making beauty from a cruel world. LONNIE HOLLEY: THE TRUTH OF THE DIRT documents a man who sees beauty in what others step on, step over, and leave behind.