A fantastical welded-mermaid sculpture by Mobile multi-media artist April Livingston is on its way to a midnight unveiling at a New Orleans arts and water-awareness festival on Oct. 18.
The life-size figure, built from pipe, pencil rod, rebar, and other salvaged metal, will be displayed in a large bowl as a permanent water feature in the atrium of The Healing Center. It was commissioned for the seventh annual Anba Dlo Halloween Festival, named after the Haitian Kreyol phrase meaning “beneath the waters.”
The festival carries a multifaceted mission: raising awareness for the disappearing Louisiana coastline, supporting economic revitalization of neglected downtown neighborhoods, and assisting financially vulnerable residents with access to groceries, holistic health care, education, and other community resources. Half the money raised will go to the New Orleans Community Outreach through The Healing Center, which assists survivors of human trafficking and homeless youth.
The Mermaid Takes Shape
Livingston drew her concept from the siren-like deity La Sirene of Haitian Vodou, a regional variation of the African Yemaja known as the spirit of the seven seas. The commission came through sculptor Alexei Kazantsev, who recommended Livingston after seeing her thesis work, which was heavily influenced by American folk ritual.
The raw materials carry their own narrative of reinvention. Pipe was donated by a welder and pencil rod came from an almost endless supply of funeral home flower stands. During assembly, one of Livingstons helpers discovered a snakes shedded skin laid out on part of the sculpture, adding a dimension of death and rebirth that mirrors the cyclical water theme.
Coast Guard Volunteers Pitch In
U.S. Coast Guard members Jolene Bruard and Bo Lisenby volunteered to help with cutting the metal, prepping the steel, and other laborious tasks needed to bring the roughly 400-pound sculpture to completion.
The water symposium portion of the festival features three segments covering future plans, state policy, and financing, featuring scientists and policy analysts discussing the Louisiana coastline crisis. The parade begins at 6 p.m. arriving at The Healing Center an hour later, with the mermaid making her appearance at midnight.