Lonnie Holley says that as a child his mother gave him away to a woman who turned around and traded him for a bottle of whiskey.

I can only wonder what kind of whiskey was worth a human life… Also, I bet he’s worth a lot more whiskey now that he’s a famous artist. Hindsight 20/20 am I right? Big Mama was the woman who bought Holley with a bottle of whiskey and despite the fact that she bought a child like he was a piece of meat, she was actually a nice lady.

Unfortunately, Big Mama’s counterpart, Big Daddy was not as nice. When Big Mama died, Holley was the only one in the house for about three days and because he didn’t know what death was, he didn’t alert anyone as to the condition of Big Mama. When Big Daddy, returned, he beat the living bejesus out of Holley for letting Big Mama sit there dead for so long. This was a bit ridiculous because a) Holley was 7 years old at the time and b) Big Daddy probably shouldn’t have left a 7 year old alone with a dying woman for three days. But that’s just me. Big Daddy was highly abusive for another year until Holley decided to run away. When he finally did he was hit by a car and broke all four of his limbs, fractured his skull, and was wrongfully pronounced brain dead. He was in the hospital unconscious for three months and the most outrageous part of the whole incident is that when he finally recovered, Big Daddy beat him for running away. As if being brain dead wasn’t punishment enough…

Holley spent most of his life running away from different abusive situations until he became a father at the age of 15 (he now has 15 children) and the caretaker of his entire biological family - 27 children in total - by the time he was in his 20s. After several years of doing that, all the while making art from things he would pick up off of the street, he was discovered by William Arnett, a curator and collector of African, Asian, and African-American art. Arnett took Holley under his wing, paid to support the ever-growing Holley family and allowed Holley to create art and music freely. At the tender age of 62, Holley became a recording musician as well as an exhibited artist, causing the entire art world to sit on the edge of its seat waiting for Holley’s next move. And we’re still waiting…