Born in 1937 in the segregated South, Mel studied art at the University of Southern California, which he attended on a football scholarship. He eventually moved East, and in 1970 was one of the first Black artists to have a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art. 1970 was also the year Mel and his wife, the late poet Jayne Cortez, first visited Africa. He has returned there often since, primarily to Senegal.
Mel creates art steeped in African and African American history, from his series of small Lynch Fragments to his massive public artworks. It’s a history of trauma, yet Mel’s work, like the artist himself, is curious, playful, and ultimately hopeful.
