As Big Chief of the Young Seminole Hunter tribe, Demond Melancon is a central figure in the Black Masking culture of New Orleans. The tradition emerged from ceremonial practices brought by enslaved Africans to the Americas, likely inflected by encounters with Indigenous peoples. In its current incarnation, Black Masking Culture comprises ritual pageantry, ceremony and public celebration, resulting in an expression of community resilience. Each tribe is headed by a Big Chief who appears in elaborately crafted regalia, or suits, during Fat Tuesday, at the end of Mardi Gras season. Meticulously constructed out of glass beads, these suits are unique sculptural objects, and, like those employed in West African masquerades, they are danced and performed into being. Tribes vie to create the “prettiest” confection.
Melancon began participating in Black Masking Culture in 1992; in 2017, he decided his work should have a larger platform, and began exhibiting his beadwork costumes – including pieces like Jah Defender (2020) – in galleries and museums, taking the Black Masking tradition into places on the global stage where it was previously little known. For the Biennale Arte 2026, Melancon has created a new suit, titled Amistad Takeover, to be activated in a procession at the opening of the Exhibition.
—Dawoud Bey
