Louisiana-based artist Demond Melancon, known for his meticulously hand-beaded Mardi Gras Indian suits, was selected among three finalists for the 1858 Prize for Contemporary Southern Art through the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, South Carolina. In addition to a year-long display of his beadwork at the museum beginning February 7, Melancon was awarded a $10,000 cash prize.
Also known as Big Chief Demond Melancon, the artist has spent over three decades beading opulent wearable suits for the Young Seminole Hunters — one group among dozens of what the Mardi Gras Indians call “tribes” upholding the Carnival tradition of Black Masking.
“ When I started beading as a kid, I never knew that it would be like this,” the artist said in an interview with Hyperallergic, reflecting on where his fine arts career has taken him.
The practice dates back to the late 19th century, when Black or African freemen and members of the Afro-Caribbean diaspora were excluded from participating in mainstream, White-led Carnival krewes. As an alternative, they pivoted to cross-cultural masquerading celebrations in their own neighborhoods for Carnival and, ultimately, Mardi Gras day (Fat Tuesday). The practice also commemorates the Native Americans of the Louisiana area who supported, shielded, and sheltered escapee or freed Black people who survived the brutal system of chattel slavery.
Today, Black Masking is one of New Orleans’s most revered folk art forms. Each Mardi Gras Indian tribe follows its own design practices and customs to produce painstakingly hand-sewn suits comprised of thousands of small glass beads for parades and competitions during Carnival season.
For Melancon, the garments he designs and wears for the Young Seminole Hunters double as research projects that blend history with contemporary art. References to Kerry James Marshall and Barkley Hendricks are literally and symbolically interwoven with pivotal moments in Black and African history — from the Amistad Rebellion of 1839 to the story of Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia.
Melancon was only a teenager when he became engulfed by the Mardi Gras Indian traditions. Today, he’s working to keep the practice of Black Masking alive and relevant to subsequent generations by incorporating the practice in fashion and fine arts collaborations and sitting on the board of the New Orleans Culture and Tourism Fund, where he works to issue thousands of dollars in grants to youth performers and maskers annually. He also expressed excitement about fellow beader Queen Tahj handcrafting this year’s Super Bowl logo and theme art.
Right: Demond Melancon, wearable pieces from “Bras-Coupé” (2016) suit
(images courtesy Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans)
Beyond the ostrich feather-plumed suits that are only worn a handful of times before they’re retired, Melancon, a full-time artist, maintains a steady beaded portraiture practice that’s also informed by historical research. For the Gibbes Museum of Art, he spent three or so months stitching a portrait of Hatshepsut, the most successful female pharaoh of Ancient Egypt. Hatshepsut’s legacy and memory were deliberately targeted by her successor, Thutmose III, who effectively erased her from the historical canon.
“ Hatshepsut is about telling the story about how men always want to erase women who are God on earth, and I don’t like that,” Melancon told Hyperallergic, noting that his co-creator and wife, Alicia Melancon, is the reason he’s able to keep going and make art his life.
“So that’s why I always try to bead women and put these stories out there — the history of these powerful women — because men are crazy and they’re always trying to shut down what women accomplish,” the artist said.
