As part of the public program of La Biennale di Venezia, Big Chief Demond Melancon presents a powerful performative work within In Minor Keys, a project that centers the body as a site of knowledge, memory, and political agency. Through gesture, movement, and sound, the performance invites audiences to attune themselves to elemental forces—water, air, fire, and earth—while activating a shared space of resistance, healing, and joy.
Taking place on Wednesday, May 6 at 11 AM in the Giardini, Blessing the Ancestors unfolds as both ritual and procession. Rooted in over two centuries of Black Masking Culture in New Orleans, the work carries forward an ancestral practice in which the Big Chief—community leader and cultural bearer—embodies history through the ceremonial suit. For this presentation, Melancon wears his Jah Defender suit (2020), a work also exhibited throughout the Biennale.
Joined by members of the Young Seminole Hunters from the Lower Ninth Ward, the performance extends beyond spectacle into invocation. Through call-and-response, recitation, and collective presence, the group summons and honors ancestral spirits—those who have passed yet remain as guardians of the community. Moving through the Giardini, their gestures resonate outward, echoing the exhibition’s broader call to listen, breathe, and remember.
Performers include Big Chief Demond Melancon, Alicia Winding, Rashaud Brown, Walter Fair, and Askia Bennett.
Mayo 4, 2026
