Cherice Harrison-Nelson is an educator, narrative visual and performance artist, and arts administrator. As the co-founder and curator of the former Mardi Gras Indian Hall of Fame, she was the co-editor of 11 publications and coordinated numerous exhibitions and panel discussions focused on West African inspired cultural traditions from New Orleans. Her creative expressions have been performed, presented and exhibited throughout the city and world. She has been featured in numerous documentaries, exhibitions and printed publications, including an NPR American Routes Carnival edition. She contributed to original hand-beaded Carnival Day ceremonial attire worn by her son and acquired by the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Museum in Washington, DC. Her production credits include: a DVD documentary, music CD, original plays, and the award-winning narrative short film, “Keeper of the Flame.” She is the recipient of several honors including: Fulbright Scholarship to study at the University of Ghana, Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Teacher-of-the-Year, Mayor’s Arts Award and 2016, U.S. Artist Fellowship. She approaches art as a cognitive provocateur, with the specific intent to engage observers through imagery and performance that simultaneously explore gender roles, classism and other limiting/confining norms. Her work is primarily autobiographical as well as simultaneously ancient and contemporary. She uses imagery from her family history, ancestral homeland and life experiences, she is her primary muse. To quote, “I am not masking when I debut my ceremonial attire on Carnival morning, I am revealing my authentic self, naked and rooted in the strength of my personal history. I cannot mask as myself."
