THREE WHISTLES AND A HOWL 

2024

Steel and wire framing, polyfill wadding, cotton and synthetic fabrics, fiberglass rods,

thread, and paracord.

Approx.: 11ft D x 20ft W x 14ft H (dimensions variable)

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Prospect 6 Commission 

Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans 

​Photography by Jonathan Traviesa.

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Support for this project was provided by the National Endowment for the Arts. Supported in part by Alice Yard Collective. 

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Three Whistles and a Howl, inspired by the performance of the Trinidad Blue Devil, stages a living “dance” between collective action and individual agency, drawing from the layered dynamics of carnival traditions where cooperation and autonomy are not opposites but coexisting forces. Commissioned by Prospect 6 New Orleans, the work is informed by both mas bands of the Caribbean and the krewes of Mardi Gras, exploring how belonging to a group can amplify rather than diminish selfhood, proposing a model in which allegiance does not erase distinction. 

 

The sculpture may be read as both a single body and multiple entities at once. Figures within the work move in loose synchrony, evoking both tension and harmony, as each retains an unmistakable identity through a tangle of performance practices. This interplay reflects a broader “carnival mentality,” where society might be reimagined as a space that allows for simultaneous participation and divergence—where dignity and self-expression are preserved within collective movement. Referencing the blue devils’ spontaneous performances, the installation embraces unpredictability and personal flair as essential to communal cohesion. In this way, it resists the idea that the whole must surpass its parts, instead positioning the individual and the group on equal footing, asking what it truly means to be fully immersed in community while remaining unapologetically singular.

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