“The River Bends and So Must We” is a project of Kolaj Institute that reflects on the Mississippi River as a dynamic force of culture. In 2026 and 2027, we will bring together artists from the International Collage Community to make artwork that imagines and speaks to what lessons the River can teach us about our own humanity. The project unfolds as a series of exhibitions, events, articles, artist residencies, and culminates in a book and folio of artwork.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
The River Bends & So Must We
Rivers are cornerstones of human civilization. Rivers sustain life and connect us to one another. Fifty-two billion gallons of water pass through New Orleans each day via the Mississippi River. The river shapes the city’s history, its culture, its soul. The country sends its goods down river and New Orleans sends its culture up. New Orleans would not be without its river. Rivers transcend time. They exist in a perpetual state of change. Heraclitus wrote, “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he is not the same man.”
“The River Bends and So Must We” is a project of Kolaj Institute that reflects on the Mississippi River as a dynamic force of culture. In 2026 and 2027, we will bring together artists from the International Collage Community to make artwork that imagines and speaks to what lessons the River can teach us about our own humanity. We will consider the history of the River in New Orleans from primordial times, pre-Columbian civilization, and to the present moment. We will examine how the River is an economic force, a tool of power, a natural wonder, and source of magic. We will take up Maya Angelou’s (1928–2014) invitation in her poem, “On the Pulse of Morning”, and “Speak to humankind today. Come to me, here beside the River.”
The project will unfold in three phases. In Summer 2026, we will invite artists to use as a point of reference Harold Fisk’s 1944 Mississippi River Meander Belt Maps which document “the nature and origin of the Alluvial Valley of the Lower Mississippi River.” A geologist and cartographer working for the US Army Corps of Engineers, Fisk used aerial photography and geological study to make visible the River’s long, shifting history. Artists will collage these maps with materials found in other archives to make visible the Mississippi River as a force of culture. Artwork will be exhibited on the iron fence of the U.S. Mint in New Orleans’ French Quarter as part of NOLA River Fest 2026 on 12 September 2026, an annual event that “celebrates the cultural, economic, environmental & inspirational impacts and contributions of the Mississippi River to the Crescent City.”
Kolaj Institute will host virtual Artist Labs in 2026 and 2027 and an in-person Artist Lab, 9-13 September 2026, where artists will develop artwork for the project. Through a series of presentations, site visits, and walks, artists will explore using archives and history; the role of artist research; develop strategies of making, exhibiting, and publishing collage art that speaks to a sense of place and history; hear about Kolaj Institute Projects and how artists can make art for books and exhibitions around photography and collage, architecture, trash as materials, folklore, poetry, and place as archive. In early 2027, Kolaj Institute will invite Solo Artists in Residence to visit New Orleans to conduct research and make artwork.
Projects developed during the Artist Labs and Solo Artist Residencies will be considered for exhibition at Kolaj Institute Gallery. Kolaj Institute will create a book about the project. The project aims to demonstrate how collage artists can pick up the unfinished work of history and contribute to the civic discourse of the community.
Current & Upcoming Activities
EXHIBITION
“Come to me, here beside the River”
“Come to me, here beside the River” brings together nine International Collage Artists, each of whom offers a unique take on the Mississippi River as a dynamic force of culture. The exhibition will take place 8-22 September 2026 on the iron fence of the U.S. Mint, home of the New Orleans Jazz Museum. Participating Artists include: Anthony D Kelly (Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland), LaVonna Varnado Brown (New Orleans, Louisiana, USA), Marta Janik (Warsaw, Poland), Lilya Chavaga (Brussels, Belgium), Matthew Hendricks (Cape Town, South Africa), Allison Spence (Tallahassee, Florida, USA), Seth Ter Haar (New Orleans, Louisiana, USA), Jeanna Penn (Oakland, California, USA) Ric Kasini Kadour (New Orleans, Louisiana, USA & Montreal, Quebec, Canada). After the exhibition at the New Orleans Jazz Museum, the exhibition will travel to the New Orleans Healing Center where it will be on view during Kolaj Fest New Orleans, 23-27 June 2027.
CALL TO ARTISTS
The River Bends & So Must We
Deadline to Apply: Sunday, 16 August 2026. An in-person artist lab in New Orleans, Wednesday, 9 September–Sunday, 13 September 2026. The Mississippi River has shaped New Orleans’ history, culture, economy, environment, and sense of place. In this artist lab, participants will explore what the River can teach us about history and our shared humanity through research, site visits, presentations, discussions, and collaborative collage making. Artists will investigate archives and historical materials, consider social, economic, and environmental issues, and develop new work informed by place. Participants will also visit NOLA River Fest and the Williams Research Center at The Historic New Orleans Collection. Work developed through the Lab will be included in the “Place as Archive” exhibition at Kolaj Institute Gallery in October 2026 and considered for future exhibitions and publications. READ MORE
ARTIST & CURATOR TALK
NOLA River Fest
Saturday, 12 September 2026, 3PM
New Orleans Jazz Museum
Project Curator and Kolaj Institute Director Ric Kasini Kadour will lead an Artist and Curator Talk on Saturday, 12 September 2026 along with LaVonna Varnado Brown and Seth Ter Haar, who will speak about their artwork in the exhibition, “Come to me, here beside the River.” The event is part of NOLA River Fest, an annual event presented by the New Orleans Jazz Museum that “remember(s) and celebrate(s) the influences of the Mississippi River on New Orleans’ geography, economy, and culture.”
KOLAJ LIVE ONLINE
The Art of River
Saturday, 19 September 2026, 1PM EDT
During this Kolaj LIVE Online, we will hear from artists whose work appears in the exhibition “Come to me, here beside the River.” Artists collaged Harold Fisk’s 1944 Mississippi River Meander Belt Maps along with materials found in archives and their personal material collections to make artwork that invites us to consider the role the Mississippi River has played in shaping history and community. RSVP & LEARN MORE
Contributing Artists
Anthony D Kelly
Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland
LaVonna Varnado Brown
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Marta Janik
Warsaw, Poland
Lilya Chavaga
Brussels, Belgium
Matthew Hendricks
Cape Town, South Africa
Seth Ter Haar
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Allison Spence
Tallahassee, Florida, USA
Jeanna Penn
Oakland, California, USA
Ric Kasini Kadour
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA & Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Project History
AUGUST 2022
EXHIBITION
And a River Runs Through It…
In “Many Americas: Art Meets History” at the Wilson Museum at the Southern Vermont Arts Center in Manchester, Vermont, August to November 2022. In March 2022, Kolaj Institute invited a group of artists to explore the archives and exhibitions of The Historic New Orleans Collection and to make a collaborative collage that offered the viewer a sense of New Orleans. Composed as a river making its way through its geography, the collage weaves a number of elements into a single artwork. READ MORE