Whilst Day often writes directly onto photographs and diagrams, in this series the written gesture is supplanted by his voice as each light jet print is accompanied by an audio recording of the original soundtrack of ‘The Fall of the Twelve Acres Museum’. The soundtrack also includes interviews with Earl Mills and music from a short-lived emo-core band from the area. It is a meditation on alienation and connection, and the potential for meaningful co-habitation between peoples.

Dapper Bruce Lafitte’s drawings use a different form of storytelling. They are filled with bustling crowds and inscribed with notes and names, often depicting his hometown of New Orleans. T.D.B.C. Presents Put the Guns Down Said the Col. (2017) shows a crowd standing outside the Ernest N. Morial Convention Centre, where thousands were evacuated after hurricane Katrina; armed soldiers and television crews stand between us and the herded escapees, interspersed with inscriptions like ‘RIP Bobby Blue Bland’.

The recent 2020 drawings, made during the COVID-19 lockdown, present vividly colored portraits of Mardi Gras Indians, a cultural staple of New Orleans parade culture and multiracial crowds drawn in full color carrying white coffins, with titles ranging from “Anti Lie,” “Pass It On,” “Poor Folks,” and “Amerikkka.” In contrast, “Thump”, as Donald Trump is renamed in the Dapper’s signature lexicon, appears at his bully pulpit, starkly un-colored, spouting his media hate speech. In stark vignettes Klansmen abut white police officers pointing guns at African-Americans, brutal depictions of ever-mounting racist violence. As always, Dapper Bruce Lafitte, stuck at home, remains a keen observer of the cultural realities both in New Orleans and in the US at large.

Dapper Bruce Lafitte grew up in the Lafitte Housing Development in the 6th Ward of New Orleans. He took the name Lafitte to acknowledge the huge impact that this community has had on his life and art. This inspiration is also apparent in vibrantly detailed drawings chronicling his life in New Orleans. While Bruce tackles the gritty subjects of poverty and racism, his art also documents the joyful parts of his life in the city, revelling in colour, pattern and rhythm.

In response to the murder of George Floyd, 10% of the proceeds from the exhibition will be donated to the New Orleans Safety and Freedom Fund, a community based nonprofit that combats the harms of incarceration by paying bail for low-income individuals who cannot otherwise afford it.