The Iron Lattice

21/03/2023

Join us this Sunday to make art and talk about city development at .works (6330 St Claude)! We will be presenting on the theme of our next issue as well as providing a public canvas for anyone to express their views on the New Orleans built environment. Refreshments and historical maps will be provided! See you there!

30/04/2022

"...the divide between Laughlin’s “Third World of Photography” and the West Coast Photographic Movement isn't about one approach being better or worse, or pitting surrealism and realism against each other. The question is what the creative conversation might have looked like if the mid-twentieth-century art world elites had paid more attention to the work that Laughlin was making. Even while preferring and pursuing something separate, they might have seen, absorbed, and responded to his photos, and the results could have been worthwhile.”

Alena Cover traces the careers of two photographers whose careers reflect diverging approaches to the medium of photography over the course of the 20th Century. Check it out on our website!

With a two-century gap separating us from the invention of the camera, it’s hard to process the awe that it inspired in its first witnesses. At this distance, it gets easier to view photos as ordinary. But with the beginning of photography, for the first time ever, you could make a record of a sin

22/04/2022

We are so excited to release Steven Melendez's exploration of the sudden rise and fall of p**n theaters in 1970's New Orleans. Check it out here!

Today, there are only a few remaining movie theaters in New Orleans. But just a few decades ago, downtown movie palaces like the Joy and Saenger competed for audiences with neighborhood cinemas from the Marigny to Carrollton. What's less remembered is a brief period mostly in the 1970s when mainstre

18/04/2022

https://www.theironlattice.com/features/the-dinner-party

A photoessay featuring the paintings and ceramics of Horton Humble.

12/04/2022

“This country is collapsing from within, it seems,” he says. “Poetry may be the lie that tells the truth, but what difference does it make?”

We are so glad to bring y'all another one of Dean Ellis's writings, this time from his latest book of poetry titled "Far Flung." Check out the poem on our website!

11/04/2022

“This country is collapsing from within, it seems,” he says. “Poetry may be the lie that tells the truth, but what difference does it make?”

We are so glad to bring y'all another one of Dean Ellis's writings, this time from his latest book of poetry titled "Far Flung." Check out the poem on our website!

Living as we do in trying times, Dean has been pondering poetry’s purposes, as Far Flung, his new poetry collection from Portal’s Press can attest. Throughout the volume he asks and answers the question, what can poetry do for a world that appears to be bleeding out anywhere you look? “This co...

05/04/2022

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind. Our latest print release Vol 8: Memory & Power is on its way to the doorsteps of our lovely subscribers. Thank you to everyone who came out for the release party and to all of our contributors who made it possible! The event was a great success. To wrap up the season, it was a wonder to see Ausettua AmorAmenkum’s suit come to life on Super Sunday this year as the current edition gives a glimpse into its creation. As with all great works of art, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Thank you to Derrick Rogers and Joshua Smith for the video.

18/03/2022

A sneak peek of the cover of our latest print release Memory & Power, Volume 8. Come get a copy tonight at our release party 7pm at the Mudlark Theater (1200 Port St).

14/03/2022

THIS FRIDAY! Joint release party for both Volume 8 of The Iron Lattice and the Delta Bound Album by Sabertooth Swing. Come scoop up a copy and be the first to see the awe-inspiring contributions to this issue. Centering ancestral memory as a powerfully subversive force we feature the words and work of Bruce ‘Sunpie’ Barnes, Fatima Shaik, John McCusker, Ausettua AmorAmenkim, Macon Fry, Holly Devon, Ida Floreak, Jonathan ‘radbwa faroush’ Mayers.

The event is free and open to the public. Food and complimentary beverages will be available. Mud lark Theater, 7pm, March 18th.

13/01/2022

New Orleans-based q***r photographer Joshua Smith decided to take at least one self-portrait in every hotel room he has stayed in for over a decade. The result has been an exploration of the imprint of our humanity upon these sterile and generic interiors. He opens up a window into intimate moments just after waking up, experiencing boredom, or with a lover buried under the sheets. In the age of the selfie, these photos offer a more vulnerable look into an individual’s daily life. His series My Hotel Room is an ongoing project but here we present a smaller yet representative snapshot–if you will–of the larger series.

https://www.theironlattice.com/features/my-hotel-room-josh-smith

22/12/2021

We were blown away by the Neighborhood Story Project's exhibition at the Ogden, Called to Spirit: Women and Healings Arts in New Orleans. Check out our review for more detials. It’s closing January 23rd, so go see it while you have the chance!

If you follow the sound of steady drumbeats and lilting accordion into the Ogden’s third floor gallery, prepare to be dazzled by the Neighborhood Story Project’s exhibit Called to Spirit: Women & Healing Arts in New Orleans . Presented as part of Prospect.5, and on display through January 2

17/12/2021

Happy Holidays Y'all! You can support our mission in local independent publishing for a sliding scale (as low as $5/mo). All subscribers will receive 4 print releases a year as well as other surprises.

11/11/2021

Jordan Hirsch walks us through the network of organizers who led the June 17th march to protest City Hall's move on Congo Square. Check out the article and the brilliant photos by Avery Leigh White now on our website: https://www.theironlattice.com/features/save-our-souls

“In the 1920s the City of New Orleans designed the monumental Municipal Auditorium to serve its elite as a convention center, Carnival ballroom, opera house, and concert hall, among other things, with glass-walled lounges where patrons could smoke without missing the show. The mayor gave no thought to locating the segregated facility at the edge of Congo Square, a historic gathering place of enslaved people revered by Black New Orleanians. The current administration, of mayor LaToya Cantrell, who is Black, didn’t consider the site either when they started planning to convert the auditorium into a new City Hall. Many residents did, however, and hundreds rallied in the square on a blazing hot afternoon last month to protest the move.”
Link in bio.

Article by Jordan Hirsch
Photos by Avery Leigh White

01/11/2021

Holly Devon interviews Gwendolyn Midlo Hall whose meticulous archival work rewrote the history of slavery in Louisiana and paved the way for slavery historians elsewhere to do the same. The two discuss Hall’s early activism, being on the FBI watch list and her memoir “Haunted By Slavery.”

When Gwendolyn Midlo Hall published Africans in Colonial Louisiana, her meticulous archival work performed the miracle of retrieving the lost voices of the enslaved Africans who built Louisiana from the ground up, paving the way for slavery historians elsewhere to do the same.

22/10/2021

Musicians turned out to the streets last month to celebrate the life of Benny Pete of the Hot 8 Brass Band–another great New Orleanian lost to the pandemic. We are so honored to have interviewed Benny for the very first issue of The Iron Lattice oh so many years ago. In our latest website release, photographer L. A. Reno captures the energy and spirit of Benny's memorial in a photoessay. Check it out in the link below:

The very first feature in Volume I of The Iron Lattice was an interview with Bennie Pete of the Hot 8 Brass Band. He spoke of his connection to his people, and the city, and how music was a thread that sustained him as it tied together everything he loved.

22/10/2021

06/10/2021

Come join us tomorrow night as we release our special edition of The Iron Lattice titled The Lovers’ War…
Thursday, October 8th
6-9pm
DM for address

25/06/2021

The next issue is running to you as fast as its little legs can carry it! But in the meantime, read this scintillating interview with the brilliant Fatima Shaik on her book Economy Hall!

http://theironlattice.com/index.php/2021/06/25/economy-hall-interview-with-fatima-shaik/

The twists and turns in how Fatima Shaik’s incandescent new book, Economy Hall, came into being are as remarkable as those within its pages. Economy Hall was a free Black brotherhood in 19th centur…

15/04/2021

Up next in our volume 8 reveal:

Baltimore native, Abdi Farah received his MFA from Tulane in New Orleans, where he continues to live and work. Farah’s art explores the commodification of the Black male body in sports (specifically) and within the United States (generally). A former athlete himself, Farah sews together used textiles—especially of colors, patterns, and textures traditionally associated with the feminine—to (re)define Black masculinity as he simultaneously deconstructed its presentation in American visual culture.

As Baldwin wrote, “The artist is distinguished from all other responsible actors in society—the politicians, legislators, educators, and scientists—by the fact that he is his own test tube, his own laboratory, working according to very rigorous rules, however unstated these may be, and cannot allow any consideration to supersede his responsibility to reveal all that he can possibly discover concerning the mystery of the human being ” Constantly pulling from his own experience and often using his own body, Farah’s practice demonstrates how in investigating and exposing the personal the artist reveals to society uncomfortable truths.

Farah has been fortunate to exhibit art across the country and internationally at institutions including, the Baltimore Museum of Art; the Corcoran Gallery of Art; the Margulies Collection; The Institute for American Universities in Aix en Provence, France; the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, and the Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans, to name a few; and highlighted by a solo exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum. Currently serving as Artist-in Residence at Black Rock Senegal, when he returns to New Orleans he’ll begin a residency at the Joan Mitchell Center. The Iron Lattice is proud and grateful to exhibit his work in Volume 8.

Image 1: black and white photo of the artist seated before his reflection with pencil and notebook in hand.
Image 2: GUEST//HOST, 2019. Charcoal and Fabric Paint on Canvas and Assorted Fabrics. 72 x 48 in. (each)
Image 3: LET ME OUT MY CAGE, 2018. Satin nylon. 66 x 80 in.

22/03/2021

We’re excited to see y’all tonight for our mediation and reading. Remember to register in advance (at the link below or in our bio) to get the zoom link!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-iron-lattice-community-meditation-and-reading-tickets-145391396581

In the meantime, we have a message from Lucia:
With everything that has happen in the past week and this past year, it’s more important than ever to check in with yourself and take care of yourself. This is especially true if you are a person of color.

How are you? Really, be honest with yourself. If you’re not okay, what part of you needs to be nurtured?

Whether you join me tonight or decided instead to take a hot bath, or take a nap, or smoke a joint, or sip some wine I hope you do something that relaxes you. You deserve it.

For now, I thought I’d share the first meditation I tried and invite you to try it on as well.

—
take a deep inhalation and say internally
“I know that I am breathing in”

then with a long exhalation
“I know that I am breathing out”

another deep inhalation 
“breathing in I am peace”

and one last long exhalation
“breathing out I give peace”

(repeat as needed)

—
May you know peace today and all days.

Love (tenderly),
Lucia

18/03/2021

Have you ever tried mediation before? Yes? No? Never? Are you nervous about trying with us? No fear! Lucia will be gentle with you and guide you though a moment of concentration.

Registration is open—the link is in the linktree in our bio!
Bring yourself as you are and a sense of curiosity 👀

We won’t meditate for the full hour—that’s too much for a mixed level group—there will be discussion, a mindful listening practice, we’ll get settled physically with adjustments offered, then we’ll breathe, just breathe 🧘🏽‍♀️ 🧘🏾 We’ll listen to Baldwin’s words, then back to your breath again.

Remember this is a FREE event, though donations (only if you are able) are welcome. All donations will go towards supporting the artists featured in the next issue.

Hope to see you at our first virtual event!

Love (tenderly) - the IL team ❤️


___
ID: photo top of the head of an alligator peaking out form bayou waters with quote overlaid. The quote states: "Perhaps the primary distinction of the artist is that [they] must actively cultivate that state which most [people], necessarily, must avoid; the state of being alone." (James A. Baldwin, “The Creative Process”)

15/03/2021

March 22 will mark the anniversary of shelter in place for those of us in Louisiana. We here at the Iron Lattice would like to create space for those who love this community to reflect on the past year, on what we as a society have learned, on the role of the artist in leading us forward.

Our newest member, Lucia Olubunmi Momoh will be hosting a mediation and reading of the inspiration behind our forthcoming special issue, James Baldwin’s “The Creative Process” at 7 PM CST on Monday, March 22.

Follow the link below (and in our bio) to register for this free event. 

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-iron-lattice-community-meditation-and-reading-tickets-145391396581?utm-medium=discovery&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&aff=escb&utm-source=cp&utm-term=listing

11/03/2021

We’re excited to announce our newest member of the IL team, Lucia Olubunmi Momoh. Lucia came on board as a senior editor in the fall. She is a curator, writer, and scholar currently also working as a curatorial associate with Prospect.5. Her research examines issues of anti-Black racism, the production of art and history, and the societal role of museums, especially in connection to the formation of national, regional, and community identities. We’re ecstatic to have her on board!

In our 2017 Caribbean issue, IL featured Lucia’s research on the vandalism of an antebellum portrait of a Black woman in THNOC’s collection.
Link here: https://theironlattice.com/index.php/2020/04/06/the-art-of-erasure/

You can follow Lucia at