12″x9″; paper and glue on watercolor paper; 2026. Courtesy of the artist.
SYMPOSIUM AT KOLAJ FEST NEW ORLEANS 2026
Consumerism, Context, and Action: Politics & Collage
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Kolaj Fest New Orleans is a multi-day festival and symposium about contemporary collage and its role in art, culture, and society, 10-14 June 2026. Visit the website to learn more, see an overview of the program, and register to attend.
Symposium sessions at Kolaj Fest New Orleans bring together a group of artists who speak about a central theme. Artists, writers, academics, and curators present slideshows which are followed by a Question & Answer period.
Collage as a political art form has a particular relevance to today as well as a strong historical context. From its roots in the European anti-fascist and Russian revolutionary movements in the early 20th century to its expressions during the U.S. Civil Rights era to its current manifestations in the fight for social justice in South America, collage is used by artists around the world as an impetus for social and political change. During this panel, we will hear from three artists who are engaged in this work.
Kolaj Institute’s Politics in Collage project is a series of residencies, publications, discussions, and exhibitions examining complex socio-political issues that contemporary society is contending with, in order to spark meaningful dialogue and inspire deeper engagement. Kolaj Institute Director Ric Kasini Kadour will present a brief project update and speak about how collage artists can get involved.
11″x9″; collaged Rouse’s catalogues on paper; 2025. Courtesy of the artist.
New Orleans, Louisiana-based artist Carmen Alcocer works with trash, found objects, and pop culture ephemera–relics of mass production–in an attempt to reckon with the modern landscape and relational connections in an increasingly divided world. Alcocer graduated from Tulane University in 2026 where she studied “gas station convenience stores as the final frontier for battles between desire, consumption, and shame” and how the “personified packaging of Mexican food products perpetuates colonial white supremacy.” Her practice considers “the nature of human desire and memory as evidenced by traces of consumer culture.” She wrote, “My material choices aim to balance the absurdity of modernity with the necessity of connection and community to understand ourselves and each other. I am inspired by the tactile practicalities of the folk craft traditions that shaped my Appalachian upbringing as well as the practices of my Mexican heritage and its resourcefulness and esotericism to find a sense of autonomy and identity despite the adversity of the modern world, and in homage of its moments of infallible wonder.” On the panel, Alcocer will speak about the intersection of collage and consumption, and “how collage can serve as a method of coping with the oppressive reality of consumption under capitalism.” She will present art work that speaks to “pitfalls of an over-consuming modern age.”
12″x9″; paper and glue on watercolor paper; 2025. Courtesy of the artist.
How do we visualize the contemporary political moment? Based in Paris, Texas, Ginger Sisco Cook is an analog political collagist working on a four-year project to contextualize the Second Trump Administration by “combining vintage imagery with contemporary media to offer commentary on current political issues.” Cook wrote, “Drawing on my background in Political Science, I use collage to respond to current events, visually and narratively chronicling developments during the Trump second administration. Since January 20, 2025, I have produced 260 analog collages using watercolor paper, magazines, and political mailings, each accompanied by written reflections. My aim is to capture the trends, historic events, and public sentiment of this presidency, offering viewers a visual record that encourages reflection on the American political landscape.” At Kolaj Fest New Orleans, Cook will present a table top exhibition in the Great Hall of the New Orleans Healing Center of collage that collectively presents “a visual representation of political developments in America since January 20, 2025.”
Fusing collage, filmmaking, installation, and layered soundscapes, Angela Lynn Tucker, based in New Orleans, Louisiana, creates “sanctuaries for Black thought.” She wrote, “My work challenges the status quo by weaving together personal memory, cultural resistance, and historical texts—insisting on the full complexity and diversity of Black life in America. With rigor and whimsy in equal measure, I push viewers to engage with sidelined Black intellectual traditions, ensuring these stories remain vital and enduring.” In February 2026, Tucker premiered the film, The Inquisitor, at the Tribeca Film Festival and on PBS Independent Lens. The film uses historical footage, contemporary interviews, and collage to share the life and legacy of Barbara Jordan, “a trailblazing congresswoman, orator, and constitutional scholar from Texas who became one of the most powerful voices in American political history.” Tucker wrote, “Her conviction that more is required of us—as citizens, as artists, as human beings—feels urgently alive right now.” Since the film’s debut, Tucker is engaged in the collage project, “More is Required,” a participatory, traveling initiative that invites collage artists everywhere to respond to the prompt: More Is Required. “What does it demand of you? What does it demand of us collectively?” Tucker will speak about this project and how collage can be used to tell stories, build community, and speak to contemporary politics.
ABOUT THE PRESENTERS
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Originally from Knoxville, Tennessee, Carmen Alcocer holds a BFA in Studio Art and BAs in Art History and Latin American Studies with a minor in Spanish from Tulane University. Her honors thesis explored gas station convenience stores as the final frontier for battles between desire, consumption, and shame. Her graduating thesis in Latin American Studies argued that personified packaging of Mexican food products perpetuates colonial white supremacy. She has attended residencies at Yale Norfolk Summer School of Art, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, and has held intern positions with the Carroll Gallery, the Middle America Research Institute, and the Knoxville Museum of Art. Learn more on Instagram @jardinesdecarmen.
Paris, Texas, USA. Ginger Sisco Cook holds an MFA and has taught photography, art appreciation, and graduate studies at Texas A&M University–Commerce. She is an analog political collagist engaged in a four-year project documenting the second Trump Administration through visual and narrative collage, combining vintage imagery with contemporary media to offer commentary on current political issues. Cook’s work has been featured in galleries, museums, exhibitions, and private collections. With Kolaj Institute, she took part in the Politics in Collage Virtual Artist Residency in 2022. Her work was featured in the Kolaj Institute publications Collage Saves the World and Kolaj 41. Her collage, Jesus Is Not a Republican, was included in Wissenschaft & Frieden 4/2025 (November 2025), along with work by other artists in the Politics in Collage Project. The artist lives and works in rural northeast Texas. Learn more on Instagram @gingersiscocook.
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Angela Lynn Tucker is an Emmy- and Webby-winning filmmaker and multidisciplinary artist whose work confronts the trauma and beauty of living in a Black body in America. Her latest documentary, The Inquisitor, premiered at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival and will broadcast in 2026 on PBS’ Independent Lens. It completes her trilogy on Black women and political power in the South. Her work has screened globally and aired on NBC, Showtime, PBS, Netflix, and Lifetime, including the holiday film, A New Orleans Noel, starring Keshia Knight Pulliam and Patti LaBelle. Tucker has shown her art at the True/False Festival, Vassar College, Lawrence Arts Center, Brooklyn Historical Society, and The Diboll Gallery and been featured in Cut Up Magazine. A member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the New Orleans artist-run gallery The Front, she has received fellowships from Sundance Institute, Firelight Media, and Chicken & Egg. Raised in New York City, she lives between New Orleans and Mississippi and is an Assistant Professor of Practice at the University of Mississippi. Learn more at angelalynntucker.format.com and on Instagram @tuckergurl.