The Louisianais.e

Featured in the AcA Café for the start of 2024 is, The Louisianais.e, an exhibition organized by the Nous Foundation that imagines a future periodical in 2050.

Designed in the style of The New Yorker, these covers feature original artworks created by a diverse array of artists from all around Louisiana. Each cover creatively interprets the future of French and Creole cultures in Louisian, 25 years from now.

A scholarly text – presented as a magazine article in French and English – accompanies each cover to discuss its historical and cultural significance and provide additional references.

This exhibit highlights how culture pervades every element of our daily lives (past, present, and future) and builds an awareness of certain facets of culture which are slowly becoming less visible due to language loss and other challenges.

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The Louisianais.e or Louisiana and identity in question.

Eight original artworks to reflect on the challenges of our time, the challenges of tomorrow.

Eight covers of a fictional publication showcasing multiple forms of art, whose bright and colorful brushstrokes cannot hide underlying concerns – which are yet teeming with hope. Multiple identities; shifting identities.

Reflected in the very title of this fictional magazine.

And its date of publication – bonjour 2050. And one question remains: what future for Louisiana’s unique cultures?

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The Louisianais.e, made possible thanks to the generous support of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities (LEH).

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About Nous Foundation, Inc:

Founded in June 2020, the Nous Foundation‘s mission is to preserve and promote Louisiana’s heritage cultures – including Creole, Cajun, Indigenous, and other minority language communities. We deliver on this mission through our work as [1] a cultural center based in New Orleans’s French Quarter, [2] a creative studio (making original films, exhibitions, and educational resources), and [3] a maker of cutting-edge programs (focused on academic research and community development).

Through an initiative launched and spearheaded by the Nous Foundation’s co-founders, Rudy Bazenet and Scott Tilton, Louisiana became the first state to join the International Organization of the Francophonie (OIF) in 2018. The OIF brings together 88 countries and regions, 16% of the global economy, and over 1 billion people.