# @hyperallergic on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DNWUiKfsBLc
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/33969640-hyperallergic-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/b7f19a0a23.jpg
- **Posted:** 2025-08-14T20:25:35.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Hyperallergic (@hyperallergic) — https://gondola.cc/hyperallergic

## Caption

“Hey, there’s some kind of painting there on that wall!” Kentucky architect Moseley Putney still remembers the precise moment in September 2022 when a carpenter on the job at the Billy Goat mixed-use development in Louisville called him over to inspect the glimpses of color underneath the drywall in one of the ground-floor spaces. Putney was instantly transported to another era when he realized that the brick-walled space he was renovating, slated for a gym, still held the mural by artist and activist David Wojnarowicz that he had seen nearly four decades earlier, just days after it was painted in 1985.

The building, once home to the Kentucky Lithography Company, was converted into residential apartments in 1986. Its owners at the time, apparently aware of the mural’s significance, erected a stud wall over it that maintained the integrity of the work, so that what Putney uncovered was remarkably intact. That the work survived, however, was news to the David Wojnarowicz Foundation and PPOW, the New York gallery that manages the artist’s estate. Over the last three years, they have tried to engage the property’s current owner, the real estate developer Zyyo, in conversations to not only preserve the mural, but also make it accessible to the public.

Today, the work is still standing, and — as of last week — once more out of sight, hidden behind a fresh layer of sheetrock at 600 East Main Street. The stewards of Wojnarowicz’s legacy, for whom the mural is a literal and symbolic testament to the artist’s enduring resonance, are hopeful that the work can see the light of day again. 

To read the full story by valentina.diliscia, visit the link in bio. 
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1, 3, 4, 9 - David Wojnarowicz’s “Missing Children” mural (1985) (photos by Mindy Best, courtesy the Estate of David Wojnarowicz and PPOW, New York)

7 - Exterior of the Kentucky Lithographing Company building at 600 East Main Street in Louisville, Kentucky, 1960s (photo courtesy Caufield & Shook Collection, University of Louisville Photographic Archives) 

#DavidWojnarowicz #Mural #QueerArt #Kentucky

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## Tags

kentucky, mural, davidwojnarowicz, queerart

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