New program pays young artists to sew Mardi Gras Indian suits (original) (raw)

Published September 4, 2024 at 2:52 PM CDT

Alella Binalla grew up seeing Mardis Gras Indians parade through New Orleans’ streets during Carnival and other big festivals, but she never knew where they came from or how to participate.

“Nobody in my family ever really explained it to me,” she said. “The dedication that they put into making their suits every year and the fact that nobody can steal it from them is cool.”

Now, she’s helping them create a suit for one of their next big events.

Binalla, 16, is one of a dozen teens and young adults employed in a new program put on by Arts New Orleans’ Young Artist Movement (YAM). The program pays young participants to help put together masking suits. During evening workshops that started in August, participants design, sew and glue suits under the supervision of local Masking Indian Queens.

Residents between the ages of 16 to 22 were allowed to apply. They earn $800 once they complete the program.

Organizers hope the added financial incentive keeps the attention of younger workers, and cultivates their appreciation and interest in carrying on one of the city’s most iconic cultural traditions.

“Once you learn the skills, it doesn't end when you leave here,” said Gabrielle Tolliver, YAM's program coordinator with YAM. “You have the option to continue to practice the skill and even make money off of the skill.”

The workshop has two main goals: Empowering younger New Orleans residents through art and employment and keeping traditional cultures alive. Masking tribes need a pipeline of younger generations to keep going, Tolliver said.

Shalina Chatlani

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Gulf States Newsroom

Mardi Gras Indians gather outside Treme Recreation Community Center, play music, and chant as they wait for the funeral services of Keelian Boyd, or “Big Chief Dump”, to end, April 10, 2021.

The masking tradition is influenced by Native American, African and Haitian cultures. The workshop includes talks about its roots, which date back to the 1800s, when Native Americans in the South provided safe refuge to runaway slaves.

“I know we see masking a lot and can take it for granted,” Tolliver said. “But in the beginning of programming, we learned that a lot of people don't really know why it's important and how they can participate.”

To help answer those questions, YAM brought in actual Masking Indian Queens to teach at workshops.

During one in late August, Charice Harrison-Nelson spoke to a group of students as they sewed at tables inside the Joe Brown Park recreation center in New Orleans East.

“Being pretty is very important in this tradition,” she said. “But being pretty with a story.”

For decades, traditional Mardis Gras krewes only admitted white residents, so, Black communities developed their own traditions during the holiday, which evolved into a diverse set of customs and practices. Modern day Masking Indians belong to dozens of tribes throughout New Orleans.

They’re most known for paying homage to their family’s personal stories with complex, colorful suits.

The suits often carry a deeply personal story told through symbols, images or messages that call for social justice.

Harrison-Nelson, whose tribal name is Maroon Queen of the Guardians of the Flame, has tailored her suits to tell stories about her family’s struggles, including her own battle with cancer.

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Members of the Young Artist Movement’s first Black Masking Indian workshop sew patches around a table inside the Joe Brown Park recreation center in New Orleans East. The workshop employed young people between the ages of 16 and 22 to offer them job opportunities and spark interest in the important city tradition.

Matt Bloom / WWNO

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Alella Binalla, 16, sews a canvas patch for a Black Masking Indian suit. Bonilla was part of the Young Artist Movement’s first Masking Indian sewing workshop that employed young people.

Matt Bloom / WWNO

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A workshop participant holds a beaded patch.

Matt Bloom / WWNO

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Gabrielle Tolliver, program coordinator with the Young Artists Movement, stands inside the Masking Indian workshop inside the Joe Brown Park recreation center in New Orleans East.

Matt Bloom / WWNO

“My father would say, ‘If you simply want to dress to be pretty, you need to call yourself something else because you're not a guardian of the flame,’” she said.

Normally, community members volunteer to help with the weeks-long sewing process. But Harrison-Nelson said hiring teens could be a new way to generate interest in the tradition.

“It's really a model for the ways that people of African descent learn not in a four-wall white, sterile classroom with desk and industrial rows, but in community,” she said.

On top of learning, it's a good temporary job opportunity for young people, Ju White, 20, said while sewing a patch with red, green and purple jewels that spelled out his initials.

“I feel like on social media, there’s a lot of negative things being spewed out about our youth and that's not the full story of things,” he said. “We're making pieces that are contributing to a culture that means something to the city.”

Matt Bloom

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WWNO

Ju White threads a bead onto a canvas patch inside the Joe Brown Park recreation center in New Orleans East. White was part of the Young Artist Movement’s first Masking Indian sewing workshop that employed young people between the ages 16 and 22.

Their goal is to produce three suits over the course of two months. White’s suit will be in the shape of a dragon made of the Earth’s four elements, water, fire, air and earth.

The finished products will be worn by Masking Indian Queens in November during LUNA Fête, the city’s art, light and technology festival. The queens will perform dances and be accompanied by digital projections that help tell their stories.

Not all the YAM workshop participants will go on to join masking tribes, but many said they felt inspired by the culture. White runs his own clothing brand, and he wants to incorporate the tradition into his designs.

“I haven't seen many people who've beaded something put it on a pair of jeans or a shirt or hat or anything,” he said. “So, I feel like it's given me some inspiration and some new connections with people.”