Billy Tripp's Mindfield

In the town of Brownsville in western Tennessee, is a baffling architectural wonder called “The Mindfield” created by local artist Billy Tripp. The Mindfield is a bizarre ensemble of steel girders, fire tower, a water tank and other scrap metal that Billy Tripp salvaged from demolished buildings, closed businesses and decommissioned structures. Included in the network of steel are individual pieces representing various events and periods of Billy's life. Still a work in progress, the Mindfield spreads across approximately half an acre of land, with its tallest structure rising over 125 feet. What began as way to contain the junk in Tripp's yard has since taken on a life of its own. The strange obsession has been continuing for more than 25 years, since it started in 1989, and will only end, as Tripp says, when he dies. After’s his death, the Mindfield will be preserved through the Kohler Foundation. “It’s my cemetery now,” he says. “It’s my grave marker.”