Louisiana-based artist Demond Melancon, recognized for his meticulously hand-beaded Mardi Gras Indian fits, was chosen amongst three finalists for the 1858 Prize for Modern Southern Artwork by the Gibbes Museum of Artwork in Charleston, South Carolina. Along with a year-long show of his beadwork on the museum starting February 7, Melancon was awarded a $10,000 money prize.
Often known as Massive Chief Demond Melancon, the artist has spent over three many years beading opulent wearable fits for the Younger Seminole Hunters — one group amongst dozens of what the Mardi Gras Indians name “tribes” upholding the Carnival custom of Black Masking.
Demond Melancon’s “Hatshepsut” (2025) earlier than it was framed for the show on the Gibbes Museum of Artwork (picture by and courtesy Gibbes Museum of Artwork, Charleston, South Carolina)
“ When I started beading as a kid, I never knew that it would be like this,” the artist mentioned in an interview with Hyperallergic, reflecting on the place his superb arts profession has taken him.
The apply dates again to the late nineteenth century, when Black or African freemen and members of the Afro-Caribbean diaspora had been excluded from collaborating in mainstream, White-led Carnival krewes. In its place, they pivoted to cross-cultural masquerading celebrations in their very own neighborhoods for Carnival and, finally, Mardi Gras day (Fats Tuesday). The apply additionally commemorates the Native People of the Louisiana space who supported, shielded, and sheltered escapee or freed Black individuals who survived the brutal system of chattel slavery.
As we speak, Black Masking is certainly one of New Orleans’s most revered people artwork types. Every Mardi Gras Indian tribe follows its personal design practices and customs to provide painstakingly hand-sewn fits comprised of hundreds of small glass beads for parades and competitions throughout Carnival season.
Massive Chief Demond Melancon, a Black Masker of the Younger Seminole Indians, in his hand-crafted Mardi Gras Indians swimsuit (picture courtesy Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans)
For Melancon, the clothes he designs and wears for the Younger Seminole Hunters double as analysis initiatives that mix historical past with up to date artwork. References to Kerry James Marshall and Barkley Hendricks are actually and symbolically interwoven with pivotal moments in Black and African historical past — from the Amistad Rise up of 1839 to the story of Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia.
Melancon was solely a young person when he turned engulfed by the Mardi Gras Indian traditions. As we speak, he’s working to maintain the apply of Black Masking alive and related to subsequent generations by incorporating the apply in vogue and superb arts collaborations and sitting on the board of the New Orleans Tradition and Tourism Fund, the place he works to problem hundreds of {dollars} in grants to youth performers and maskers yearly. He additionally expressed pleasure about fellow beader Queen Tahj handcrafting this 12 months’s Tremendous Bowl brand and theme artwork.
Left: Demond Melancon, wearable piece from “Red Cloud and Sitting Bull” (2013) suitRight: Demond Melancon, wearable items from “Bras-Coupé” (2016) swimsuit(pictures courtesy Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans)
Past the ostrich feather-plumed fits which can be solely worn a handful of instances earlier than they’re retired, Melancon, a full-time artist, maintains a gradual beaded portraiture apply that’s additionally knowledgeable by historic analysis. For the Gibbes Museum of Artwork, he spent three or so months stitching a portrait of Hatshepsut, probably the most profitable feminine pharaoh of Historical Egypt. Hatshepsut’s legacy and reminiscence had been intentionally focused by her successor, Thutmose III, who successfully erased her from the historic 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 advised Hyperallergic, noting that his co-creator and spouse, Alicia Melancon, is the explanation he’s in a position to preserve going and make artwork 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 mentioned.
1858 Prize winner Demond Melancon’s “Hatshepsut” (2025) on show on the Gibbes Museum of Artwork (picture courtesy Gibbes Museum of Artwork, Charleston, South Carolina)
Demond Melancon, “Queen First Lady” (2022) (picture courtesy Arther Roger Gallery, New Orleans)
Demond Melancon at work, meticulously stitching glass beads onto the Ethiopia swimsuit from 2018 Mardi Gras (picture courtesy Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans)
