WHY THIS MOMENT ON THE WORLD ART STAGE IN VENICE MATTERS TO ALL OF BLACK ART
- May 21
- 3 min read
Something historic is happening in Venice right now, and we all need to take solace in how the art world can lift us up in such challenging times. For the first time, an African woman was selected as curator of the Venice Biennale, and a record number of Black artists from across the globe were invited to exhibit.
For Black Americans navigating a difficult moment at home, this Biennale is a reminder that we are world citizens — and that Black creative tradition has always been a global force. The artists who left this country in the 1960s to gain a wider view were onto something. Sometimes you have to look outward to deepen your resolve.
Big Chief Demond Melancon, founder of New Orleans' Young Seminole Hunters tribe, is among 111 artists worldwide invited to the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. As we reel from the Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana designed to gut the Voting Rights Act (VRA) Melancon offers his own form of both artistic rebellion and solace. His ceremonial suits and hand-sewn beadwork canvases are on view in both the Giardini and the Arsenale.
On May 6, Melancon performed Blessing the Ancestors at the Giardini — a ritual procession rooted in over two centuries of Black Masking Culture, wearing his Jah Defender suit (2020). He was personally selected to participate by the late Koyo Kouoh, the Cameroonian curator who became the first African woman ever appointed to lead the Venice Biennale. Kouoh died of cancer in May 2025 before seeing her vision realized. The exhibition, titled In Minor Keys, was carried to completion by her handpicked team exactly as she conceived it — a profound act of posthumous fidelity to one of the art world's most important curatorial voices.
The relationship with his gallery, Mariane Ibrahim, began with a direct message on Instagram. "Marisol Rodriguez contacted me," says Melancon. "And she supported me in a major way to get there. From the beginning, they made me feel like family," he said.
The exhibition runs through November 22, so take time to experience these firsts. Stand in Venice and see what it looks like when a Big Chief from the Lower Ninth Ward and the first African woman to curate the world's oldest art fair find each other — and change the conversation forever.
Big Chief Demond shares his experiences at the Biennale in a Q&A with Pigment International. Click the Read More link for the full interview.
The Biennale's thematic threads this year — tradition, legacy, and collective memory — are ideas you engaged with directly during your talk at Expo Chicago. When you're working within the Big Chief tradition, how do you hold the weight of that legacy while also asserting your own artistic voice?
"Being a Big Chief in the Black Masking Culture of New Orleans is completely different from my artistic voice in the contemporary art world. Being a Big Chief, you're holding onto tradition and culture, and it's completely different when we're masking in the streets of New Orleans — when we're masking with our tribe. So, while the weight of the legacy within the Black Masking Culture of New Orleans is different, I'm creating a legacy within the art world. ... the feeling is different when I'm creating the work versus when I'm creating my suit as a Big Chief. When I'm creating my suit, I'm in spirit. When I'm creating my artwork, I'm in spirit, too. But I'm trying to answer questions that I have within myself about my art practice while channeling that spirit."
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