EXHIBITIONS
ON DISPLAY
NOW ON VIEW: Favorite fathers Exhibition
“The Eyes of Water”
Curated by Kennedy Sarrazin
Art by Eric Waters
"Eyes of Water" highlights original works from legendary photographer Eric Waters. Capturing the essence of Black New Orleans culture for over 30 years, Eric Waters, affectionately known as 'Baba Waters', has documented Black beauty and boldness with his own unique perspective. The "Eyes of Water" exhibition invites you dive into the mind of Eric Waters, an iconic master of light.
Waters has been a professional photographer for more than 30 years, studiing under the tutelage of the late Marion Porter, a well known and respected black New Orleans photographer and owner of Porter’s Photo News and decided early on in his career that New Orleans street culture had significant historical value and was worthy of documentation.
While documenting African-American culture in New Orleans, especially jazz musicians, Black Mardi Gras Indians, Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs, Second Line parades, jazz funerals, and other social events Waters is known throughout the city and is a pilar of documenting our culture.
CALL TO ARTISTs: MAAFA 25 Exhibition
“ Homecoming: La Porte du Retour”
The 2025 Maafa exhibition "Homecoming: La Porte du Retour" (The Door of Return) is a salute to our lineage. By amalgamating the elements of our ancient customs, foods, crops, and music that are linked to our ancestral DNA we decrypt primordial messages that give us the blueprint to prevail over adversarial tyranny. With encryptions of Ogun found throughout the exhibition, our artists tell a prophetic story of distributive justice.
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PAST EXHIBITIONS
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NCA Martin Luther King Jr. Exhibit: An Experiment in Love
An Experiment in Love is based on An Experiment in Love: Martin Luther King, Jr. on the Six Pillars of Nonviolent Resistance and the Ancient Greek Notion of Agape; article from “My Pilgrimage to Nonviolence” published Sept. 1958, New York.
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Iba Se Egun
"Iba se Egun" is a collection of works by Jay Evans centering ancestral reverence, genealogical discoveries, and cultural preservation through 35mm film photography, collage art, and blackout poetry. Each piece serves as a testament to the enduring beauty and interconnectedness of our past, present and future.
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Seeing Black: In the Spirit of Black
In the Spirit of Black brings together an intergenerational group of 75 Black photographers whose work engages the photographic grammars, textures, multiplicities, and visual sounds of Black life in and outside New Orleans.
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NCA Martin Luther King Jr. Exhibit: Who Speaks for the People
Presented by the National Conference of Artists, in partnership with Ashé Cultural Arts Center and The Building, this annual exhibition features work from artists celebrating the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., the Civil Rights Movement, and the continued fight for justice and peace.
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Looking Glass
This exhibition is a mirror to the soul. It is regular people doing beautiful things and the power that comes with simple existence. It is a trip back to childhood. It is a man seeing his father’s face in his own. The everyday self—the joys and reflections—are the things people tend to overlook. Looking Glass celebrates this state of being.
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We Grew Here
From the earliest days of our nation, Black people were instrumental in its economic growth. "We Grew Here," New Orleans artist/muralist Kentrice Schexnayder's first solo exhibit, sheds light on the many important contributions of our "cotton-picking" ancestors.
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Art of the Black Experience
Art of the Black Experience is the first open call since 2016 for direct purchase of artwork to be permanently added to the city's art collection through the Percent for Art program. It seeks to recognize Black people's contributions and experiences, ranging from cultural practices to heroism.
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Losing Louisiana 2024 Exhibit
This exhibit, curated by Asia-Vinae J. Palmer, is an visual expression of the journey through the grief inherent in loss and the celebration that can exist when loss makes room for something else. On display from November 15, 2024 to January 7, 2025 at the Ashé Powerhouse Theater.