L. Kasimu Harris is a New Orleans-based artist whose practice deposits a number of different strategic and conceptual devices in order to push narratives. He strives to tell stories of underrepresented communities in New Orleans and beyond. Harris has shown in numerous group exhibitions across the US and two international exhibitions and has had eight solo photography exhibitions.
In 2022, he was named Documentary Photographer of the Year by Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities and will have a solo show entitled “Vanishing Black Bars & Lounges” on view at the Hilliard Museum until July 30.
Benjamin M. Hickey is Curator of Exhibitions at the Hilliard Art Museum – University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Most central to his curatorial practice are projects that blend social history, sense of place, and interdisciplinary collaborations. Artists with whom he has worked include Lionel Cruet, Shayne Dark, Jenny Ellerbe, Hasan Elahi, Robert Hodge, Beili Liu, Kelli Scott Kelley, Vitus Shell, Marni Shindelman & Nate Larson, James Surls, and Alberto Rey.
Born in 1951 to a family of creatives, James Michalopoulos spent his post graduate years consumed by work in the cooperative movement. After growing America’s largest storefront co-op, Michalopoulos started sketching while on a road trip, which led him to New Orleans in 1978.
His paintings capture the many aspects of the city and its inhabitants: portraits, musicians, streetscapes and architecture.
In addition to his artistic practice, Michalopoulos founded Celebration Distillation in 1995. Now the oldest operating rum distillery in the continental United States.
Michalopoulos is the founder of Noro Artist Studios–a square city block of affordable artist spaces for the next generation of New Orleans creatives – and chairs the Michalopoulos Foundation, supporting expressiveness in architecture and affordable housing for emerging artists.
Today he divides his time between New Orleans and Burgundy. The French countryside–with its Roman era stone buildings and verdant fields–has become a large focus of his work.
Sélène Saint-Aimé is a double bass player, singer and composer of Caribbean and West African origins. She has studied with internationally acclaimed musicians, such as Steve Coleman, Lonnie Plaxico, and Ron Carter. At the invitation of the Komos label, she recorded her first album, Mare Undarum, where she explores the world of lunar seas, as she would in an autobiography. In 2021, she was nominated at the Victoires du Jazz awards in the “Rising Star” category. She is currently participating in the Villa Albertine jazz residency in New Orleans in partnership with the Philharmonie de Paris and the New Orleans Jazz Museum.