2026 | Emerging Prize Winner
The 3-Channel video Memoria 2020: When Memories Are No Longer Enough reflects on DIVA’s identity as a Black French woman in New Orleans through the lens of another diasporic experience: a Mardi Gras Indian Queen. The Mardi Gras Indian tradition is believed to originate from encounters between Native and Black communities in the late 19th century. The Queen’s voice introduces the traditions and history of this African American cultural practice, which is rooted in community resilience and resistance. The work explores how artistic archives, cultural memory, and testimony shape belonging across diasporic histories.
