A large mural by David Wojnarowicz (1954-92), rediscovered in a Louisville, Kentucky building in 2022, is at risk of being concealed again behind drywall as the building is redeveloped into high-end residences. The site-specific work was created in 1985 for the group exhibition *The Missing Children Show: Six Artists from the East Village on Main Street*, organized by dealer Potter Coe to benefit the Kentucky Child Victims’ Trust Fund. The building's current developers plan to turn the mural's floor into a waiting room for a boxing gym, covering it with sheetrock, though they have guaranteed no damage. The artist's foundation and gallery, PPOW, have proposed covering it with transparent plexiglass instead, but the mural's removal is unlikely due to its size and brick surface.
This matters because Wojnarowicz's career has seen a major resurgence since the Whitney Museum's 2018 retrospective, making the preservation and public accessibility of his early site-specific work culturally significant. The mural is a rare surviving example of the East Village art scene's engagement with social issues—here, missing and abused children—and its potential concealment raises broader questions about how developers balance preservation with profit. Local architect Moseley Putney, who rediscovered the work, and the Wojnarowicz Foundation are advocating for public access, possibly through a partnership with the Speed Art Museum or the University of Louisville for the work's 40th anniversary.