Mardi Gras Indian shown at Biennale

Demond Melancon, a New Orleans suit-maker and Big Chief, will show work at the 2026 Venice Biennale as the first Black Masking Indian included in the international exhibition. (nola.com) La Biennale di Venezia said the 61st International Art Exhibition, “In Minor Keys,” runs from May 9 to November 22, 2026, with previews on May 6, 7 and 8 in Venice. Melancon is listed among the invited participants, and local tourism officials said he and Dawn DeDeaux are the only artists from the American Gulf South selected this year. (labiennale.org) (neworleans.com) Melancon, born in 1978, works with needle and thread to sew glass beads onto canvas and began masking in 1992, according to his artist biography. He is Big Chief of the Young Seminole Hunters and is known in New Orleans for hand-sewn suits that can take most of a year to make. (demondmelancon.com) (cbsnews.com) Black Masking Indians are New Orleans groups whose members create elaborate beaded and feathered suits and appear on Mardi Gras day and at Super Sunday gatherings. The Backstreet Cultural Museum and Louisiana State Museum trace the tradition to the 1800s and describe it as rooted in resistance, with African American masking shaped by both Native and West African influences. (backstreetmuseum.org) (louisianastatemuseum.org) That history usually lives in neighborhood streets, clubhouses and local museums, not in the main exhibition of the Venice Biennale. NOLA.com quoted one comparison calling the invitation the craft’s equivalent of an Oscar, a measure of how rarely Black Masking enters the center of the international art world. (nola.com) The selection also lands as Venice prepares an edition shaped by the late curator Koyo Kouoh’s plan for “In Minor Keys.” La Biennale said the 2026 exhibition is proceeding under Kouoh’s curatorial vision after her death in May 2025. (labiennale.org) (biennialassociation.org) Melancon has already moved beyond parade routes into galleries and institutions, including recognition as a 2023 Joan Mitchell Fellow and exhibitions highlighted by galleries and arts organizations. His Venice appearance extends that path while keeping the work tied to Black Masking culture rather than separating it from the tradition that produced it. (joanmitchellfoundation.org) (arthurrogergallery.com) When the Biennale opens in May, a form built over more than a century in New Orleans will appear in one of contemporary art’s biggest international shows under Melancon’s name. (labiennale.org) (smithsonianmag.com)