Vince Fraser interprets Black Masking Indians in New Orleans

The New Orleans African American Museum (NOAAM) is launching a major new permanent installation titled Ancestral Odyssey on June 19, 2025, coinciding with Juneteenth. Created by London-based digital artist Vince Fraser, this immersive installation uses cutting-edge technology to reimagine the traditions of the Black Masking Indians, exploring themes of identity and history. Following the public opening, Ancestral Odyssey will become a permanent part of the museum and will expand in the future.

“Fraser’s work connects African roots with modern Black life and aims to inspire, particularly young artists of color, by showing how digital art can honor the African diaspora,” Gia Hamilton, NOAAM Executive Director and Chief Curator, said. “As our institution aims to reflect the cultural past, present, and future of New Orleans, Ancestral Odyssey embodies NOAAM’s vision for a future where digital innovation becomes a powerful tool for cultural memory.”

With over two decades in digital media, Fraser’s Afro-surrealist practice is rooted in his Jamaican heritage and Pan-African culture. His works are known for reconstructing histories, elevating African cosmologies, and challenging dominant narratives through richly textured digital compositions. His visual language blends photorealism, traditional African symbols, and futuristic motifs, creating spaces where past, present, and ancestral realms coexist.

Working alongside esteemed local collaborators and artists, such as Big Chief Shaka Zulu, Marcus Akinlana, Nana Sula Spirit, and Sunni Patterson, Fraser’s Ancestral Odyssey draws inspiration from the concept of “portals of transformation” — a powerful lens to venerate the mysticism of the Black Masking Indians. The installation presents a multi-sensory environment, offering soundscapes and digital “portals” that symbolize thresholds between the physical and metaphysical, where ceremonial practices become conduits for profound metamorphosis.

As part of this multi-sensorial environment, renowned poet Sunni Patterson contributed a powerful sonic element to the installation—an evocative soundscape that accompanies visitors as they journey through the portals. The following is an excerpt:

“Guide us to the God of ourselves, a liberatory holiness, an act of freedom and resistance, resilience and ritual. We are walking rosaries, walking altars. Have a prayer on your tongues when you see the glory and grandeur of us. This is tambourine tapping. It’s knockers on the door. It’s transforming all who look on, who look in.”

Traditionally known for their elaborate, hand-beaded suits and ceremonial performances during Mardi Gras (diasporic Carnival Season), Black Masking Indians honor African ancestry and Indigenous resistance through ritual and art. In Ancestral Odyssey, Fraser enshrines this tradition by depicting them as bizarre, otherworldly deities mirroring a powerful ancient presence back at the viewer. Their ornate costumes symbolize portals to mythological realms where African kings, queens, and spiritual warriors stride above skylines, uniting past and present in a celebration of legacy and resilience.

Finally, soon to be set across two distinct sites on NOAAM’s two-acre historic Tremé campus, Ancestral Odyssey fuses technology, cultural memory, and mystic energy to offer a sensorial, digital environment for contemplation and meditation on identity, resistance, and reverence. Using AI as a medium for artistic storytelling, the installation reimagines the Black Masking Indians’ spiritual and aesthetic traditions, inviting viewers on a spiritual odyssey through ancient, African mythological realms.

“New Orleans has a special place in my heart, as a city that extends ancestral power and celebration, and I was astounded by the care and effort of the Black Masking Indians’ craftwork,” said Vince Fraser. “This installation is not just about the past. It’s about showing everyone, especially young artists of color, that there is a need and space for their stories in the present.”

In partnership with Fraser, NOAAM bridges these diasporic narratives with modern digital expression, offering a platform to celebrate and inspire the future generation of artists and welcome visitors into these immersive portals.

To celebrate the opening of Vince Fraser: Ancestral Odyssey, the museum will host a public opening reception on June 19th at 8pm CT. The evening will include activations led by artist Ashli Ognelodh-Curry and music by DJ Sabine. As space is limited, registration is encouraged. You may register at this link.

For more information on Vince Fraser: Ancestral Odyssey and forthcoming programming, please visit www.noaam.org.

About Vince Fraser

Vince Fraser is a pioneering British Afro-surrealist artist whose work sits at the vibrant crossroads of digital art, visual storytelling, and cultural reclamation. With a career that spans over two decades, Fraser has evolved from a successful commercial illustrator into a visionary digital artist, celebrated for his bold, immersive works that reimagine Black identity and heritage through an Afro-diasporic lens. His work is a dynamic fusion of graphic precision, dreamlike surrealism, and a profound exploration of African ancestry, spirituality, and cultural resilience.

Fraser’s work has been exhibited internationally, with projects featured in London, New York, Miami , and beyond. Notable collaborations include partnerships with artists and musicians like Erykah Badu, OutKast’s Big Boi and Black Coffee. His AR work with Artechouse is an interactive experience that blends spiritual iconography and African diasporic history. It has been particularly lauded for its innovative use of technology and its deeply emotive, narrative-driven content.

About the New Orleans African American Museum

The New Orleans African American Museum of Art, History, and Culture was founded in 1996 under the guidance and extensive support of the City of New Orleans Department of Housing and Neighborhood Development. NOAAM is located in the Tremé section of New Orleans, a neighborhood that was once home to the nation’s largest, most prosperous, and politically progressive community of Blacks by the mid-1850s.

NOAAM seeks to educate and to preserve, interpret, and promote the contributions that people of African descent have made to the development of New Orleans and Louisiana culture, as slaves and as free people of color throughout the history of American slavery as well as during Emancipation, Reconstruction, and contemporary times.