Forever

We are pleased to present a vibrant new work by artist Odili Donald Odita.
In honor of the New Orleans Museum of Art’s centennial, Odita has been
commissioned to create a site-specific mural for the museum’s McDermott
Lobby.

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“I like to get a feeling for a space and then try to capture the dynamics of that
space,” Odita explains. “This means not only what the space looks like, but
also how it is used, how people travel and walk through it. In this case, I will
also consider the space of New Orleans. New Orleans is a rare international
space in America; it goes beyond the regional—it has more of an international
context because of its vastly rich, and complex history.”

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Inspiration for this installation project came from a book about the Black
Masking Indians of Mardi Gras, New Orleans given to Odita by artist, Willie
Birch. This began Odita’s investigation at NOMA into the history of the Black
Masking Indians of New Orleans, along with considerations on the devastation
and rebuild of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

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