In partnership with the Kolaj Institute, for their Collage the Planet Artists in Residence program, this piece was created to explore themes of environmentalism through art.

Incorporating themes of traditional folk magic, psychoanalytic symbolism, and spirit work, Mama of Many Waters returns to the inherent memory of water. As a giver, sustainer, and taker of life, water is a universal unifying factor between the water in our bodies and the bodies of water that have irrevocably shaped the cultural landscape of New Orleans. We are connected by bodies of water like the Mississippi and the Atlantic Ocean, carrying within them legacies of displacement, enslavement, immigration, and colonial settlement. Those who have found themselves in New Orleans, carry the culture and the history within them. Mama of Many Waters is a portrait of New Orleans herself. From the five strands of beaded hair, representing some of the earliest communities in New Orleans, into the collaged figure below: Chitimacha Nation (Indigenous First nation), Kongolese (West Africa), Cajuns (descendants of Acadians), Roma/Rromani (itinerant groups originating from northern India), and the Spanish. The vexillology informs the colors of the beads of contemporary flags from the regions of origin within these communities.

“They [the Ancestors] converge in New Orleans and after their passing they become part of the land and the history. They return to the water and roam the city, and sometimes they even become part of the waters of the earth”. Together with the convergence of water, culture, and ancestors, the work invites you to care for the rivers, lakes, swamps, and sacred cultural sites of New Orleans. It’s the water and the blood, that can neither be erased nor forgotten that we must protect.

Mama of Many Waters

38” x 18” Collaged atlas maps, digitally collaged images of the Mississippi River, multicolored glass beads, multicolored seed beads, bone feather, cowrie shell, dharmachakra wheel pendant, fleur-de-lys pendant, red pepper bead, fishing wire on recycled cardboard; 2024