Lacy Hale
Lacy Hale is an artist who was born and raised in the mountains of southeastern Kentucky before following her dreams of doing art professionally to a change of scenery at the Pratt Institute of Art in Brooklyn, New York. However, she returned home to her roots to continue her artistic career, with her works being shown in both the northern and southern regions. She has received many recognitions for her works, including being included Appalachian artist of the year in 2021 and 2022. Her 2017 slogan and mural, No Hate in My Holler is particularly profound and has generated thousands of dollars for nonprofits, as she donates 25% of the piece’s proceeds. There is also a heat-map that shows visually how the piece has circulated across the world, which can be viewed here.
Key Sites
Commentaries, Interviews, and Lectures
- Adams, Mason. 2017. “How #NoHateInMyHoller Became the War Cry for Appalachia.” The Daily Yonder.
- Bennett, Jared. 2025. “Eastern KY Activists Bought Land Where Feds Wanted to Build A Prison.” Louisville Public Media. Interview for Inside Appalachia Interview for Rural Assembly
Academic References
- Helton, Melissa. "Amelia Kirby: Collective Healing." Troublesome Rising: A Thousand-Year Flood in Eastern Kentucky. The University Press of Kentucky, 2024. 66-71.
- Herzing, Rachel, Kirby, Amelia, and Jack Norton. 2024. “The Punishment System and Fascism Go Hand in Hand.” Hammer and Hope.
- Norton, Jack, Lydia Pelot-Hobbs, and Judah Schept. The Jail is Everywhere: Fighting the New Geography of Mass Incarceration. Verso Books, 2024.
- Schept, Judah. "Coal, cages, crisis: The rise of the prison economy in Central Appalachia." Coal, Cages, Crisis. New York University Press, 2022.
- Swayne, Vivian, et al. "Art in Them Mountains: Critical Discussions on Appalachia, Identity, and Abolition." Appalachian Journal 52.3 (2025): 219-236.
