Colin Orihuela '24 is concentrating in American Studies and Visual Art. He was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he began working in the cultural sector at age 15. Colin has held positions at the Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, the Brown University Library, and the RISD Museum. His artwork ranges from found-object sculpture to textiles to collage and has been exhibited in New Orleans, Providence, and online. Colin hopes to foster creative and beneficial relationships between cultural institutions and the communities they serve.

Project:

The Krewe of Clones, a Mardi Gras parading organization, was founded in 1978 and based out of the then-new Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans. Colin’s project will investigate the history of the Krewe’s early organizing in this institutional art space, the Carnivalesque politics of spectacle and satire, and the ways that the parade’s history has produced meaningful resonances in contemporary Mardi Gras parading traditions. Colin will engage collaboratively with local artists, Mardi Gras organizers, and institutional partners to create a visual project that embodies the satirical philosophies of the Krewe of Clones while evading tourist legibility.

Mentor: Lindsay Caplan