Basqo Bim’s carnival creations dazzle at the Chloe Hotel in New Orleans
This early Mardi Gras, amid the costumed crowds cheering for the marching bands and the papier maché floats streaming down St. Charles, a giant mouth hangs open. The mouth of Opulina is three feet wide, lipped in pink cord, and toothed with tassels; it seems to speak from the beyond.
A creation of artist Basqo Bim, the six-foot-tall mask was hung on the façade of the Chloe as part of the hotel’s Carnival transformation into the ancestral meeting place of the Mystic Krewe of Eh La Bas—an immersive installation of sculpture, florals, and hundreds of yards of tulle created in collaboration with dynamic decorating duo the Judy Garlands. Opulina and her krewe-mates are no ordinary ornaments. Constructed from objects foraged during Basqo’s walks in the Upper Ninth ward, these masks manifest the spirit of New Orleans: a place that collects and excretes bouillon fringe and filigreed doorbells, costume jewelry, chandeliers, and lots and lots of beads.
GARDEN AND GUN | February 2024