Completed in 1995 and acquired by the Fine Arts Center in 2020, Floyd D. Tunson’s Hearts and Minds addresses the ongoing impact of gun violence on youth of color. In Colorado, Black men ages 18–24 are more than 12 times more likely than white men the same age to be killed in a gun homicide (The State of Gun Violence). The work asks us to consider the systems and structures that perpetuate these cycles of violence and the tragic loss that results.

Endangered, the multi-disciplinary performance-based project presented alongside Hearts and Minds in the exhibition is a poetic and musical response to the artwork in Floyd D. Tunson’s Endangered series addressing the endangered status of Black men. Featuring the music of artist Tomás Doncker, the lyrics of Pulitzer Prize winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa, and the videography of William Murray, Endangered will run in video form in the galleries through the duration of the exhibition with live performances scheduled for June 16 and 17, 2022 at the Fine Arts Center.

The exhibition is curated by Michael Christiano, FAC director of visual arts & museum and supported in part by funding from Colorado College’s Cultural Attractions Fund, the Holaday Interactive Art Fund, CALM Foundation, Walston Group Real Estate, Inc., and the Bee Vradenburg Foundation.