I have created a very limited number of rendered by hand, one-of-a-kind Mardi Gras Indian dolls that are on sale at the Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans from now through January 19, 2009. A generous donation from the sale of each doll will go to support efforts that preserve and advance Mardi Gras Indian art and culture in New Orleans.
Also making and selling dolls (also available for purchase at the CACNO) are students from a Mardi Gras Indian Arts Intensive which I created two years ago. The intensive is an eight-week full-immersion experience for up to 20 middle schoolers from the Greater New Orleans area who are given a rare opportunity to learn the art of "masking Indian" from the leading bearers of the tradition, including Big Chief Darryl Montana of the Yellow Pocahontas Mardi Gras Indians.
With origins dating back to the 1800s, the Mardi Gras Indians practice one of New Orleans’ oldest and most distinctive art forms. It began in the early days of Mardi Gras in the city when African Americans, who were excluded from participation in mainline krewe parades like Rex and Comus, developed their own celebrations.
Mardi Gras Indians work year-round to create colorful and elaborate costumes adorned with a combination of beads, feathers, plumes, sequins, and/or rhinestones. The costumes they create are romanticized versions of Native American dress. It is a way of paying homage to a shared past of struggle and survival with Native Americans, who in the days of slavery in New Orleans, aided African Americans trying to escape. Indians wear their costumes on special parade days (there are others besides Mardi Gras Day) when they gather together to make music, dance, sing, and chant.
The Mardi Gras Indians are representative of the way in which art in New Orleans spills out from people's homes and onto the streets.
