Noirlinians: Danielle Miles, Asia Vinae Palmer, LaToya Edwards and Patrick Melon
December 12, 2015 – January 30, 2016
Opening: Saturday, Dec 12, 6-8pm
Public Programming Dates: TBD

In conjunction with PhotoNOLA 2015, the McKenna Museum presents a photography exhibition in partnership with Noirlinians. The exhibition will feature four photographers, Danielle Miles, Asia Vinae Palmer, LaToya ‘Blaze Like Fyre’ Edwards and Patrick Melon, of New Orleans based fashion blog Noirlinians, exploring a variety of styles and themes in street photography.

Noirlinians is an AfroFashion blog exploring the complex relationship between culture, clothing & identity in the diaspora. Featuring Liberian artist and designer Denisio Truitt of DOPEciety and poet and organizer Mwende “FreeQuency” Katwiwa, the idea for the blog emerged after a fast friendship developed between the two based on their African heritage and artistic interests.

Photographers

Patrick Melon is a native of New Orleans that uses his camera to explore his own connections to the city he calls home. An avid maker of portraits and seeker of stories, Melon follows his camera as it fuels interactions between the people that create the culture of the crescent. A graduate of LSU with a BFA in photography and a minor in African and African-American Studies, Melon relies heavily on his understanding of to the Black American experience to create meaningful images in and around the streets of New Orleans and wherever else his travels take him. Find him on Instagram: @Melontao

Asia-Vinae “Preach” Palmer has always been a visual and spoken word artist but never considered herself a photographer until modeling with New Orleans’ photographer, Gus Bennett. After background shooting for him, he encouraged her to get a camera. Since then, she has been practicing with event photos, private shoots, and nature shots. She considers herself a multimedia artist and wishes to pursue as much as her hands are willing to tackle. Just as some things give her the urge to write or paint, she is drawn to the lens and she is always ready to learn something new. Find her on Instagram: @PreachThePoet

LaToya ‘Blaze Like Fyre’ Edwards, is a Photographer + Videographer + Digital Media Designer from New Orleans, Louisiana. Recollections of receiving cameras as gifts as a child, Photography had been in Blaze’s life before ever being called a “Photographer”, however her interest grew while on assignment for her job as an Entertainment writer, where typically she would photograph the events she attended. Photography was the catalyst for the exploration of different creative avenues, such as Digital Media Design: websites, logos, and other graphics, as well as Videography. Her style of Photography from her peers has been described as “documentary”, however as Blaze professes, “I just shoot what I see.” Blaze studied Mass Communications at Texas Southern University’s Tavis Smiley School of Communications. “I am not making a living doing what I studied in school, however what I learned away from the class has become my business. I will say this though, in 2013 when I began Creative Itch Media Group, I did so using the experience I had gathered from working in marketing and promotions, radio, print, and a record label. It was because I had experience the different dynamics that my mission became evident and my purpose clear, work with Artists to help them manifest their dreams, while simultaneously manifesting my own. I get paid to do that, and that is sweet!” Find her on Instagram: @BlazeLikeFyre // @CreativeItchMedia

Danielle C. Miles
Featured on recent PBS Parallax blog: www.pbs.org/newshour/art/call-new-orleans-african-city-u-s