Big Chief Victor Harris,  Bio (con't)

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The tenth anniversary black suit of 1994, which symbolizes the second coming of the Spirit of Fi Yi Yi, opened Harris’s exhibition at the New Orleans Museum of Art. Preserved by the Louisiana State Museum, the 1994 black suit was accompanied by nine other suits—usually displayed at the Backstreet Cultural Museum year-round—as well as three masks from Harris’s personal collection. Of the twenty-five Big Chief suits created by Harris, only nine have survived the passing of time and Hurricane Katrina.

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The missing suits were represented through a series of photographs by Keith Calhoun, Jeffrey David Ehrenreich, Sylvester Francis, and Michael P. Smith, as well as through footage by Francis. Both the photographs and footage offer insight into the spiritual nature of the Mardi Gras Indian practice of Big Chief Victor Harris and Fi Yi Yi. The suits are only the starting point of what is ultimately a transformative experience that includes marching, dancing, singing, and drumming.

A work of art by the community, for the community, Harris’s suits require countless hours of labor. Fi Yi Yi members, led by Master Designer Jack Robertson, painstakingly make and assemble patterns, sew fabric, beads, feathers, and sequins to complete the suit that will be worn by their spokesman and representative. (con't)