Reine du Carnaval by Rigaud Benoit

Rigaud Benoit. Detail of Reine du Carnaval, ca. 1980. Print with hand watercolor. 30 x 23.5 in. Courtesy of David Cutrell.

Hovering between two leafless trees, a dark-skinned woman spreads her green wing-like cape, hovering above a gray base. She reigns over a carnival with a flowy top, light yellow booties, and a beautiful circle skirt composed of alternating multicolor pedals. Dangling from her skirt are five tassels of green and red. She wears a gold tiara adorned by green and pink feathers. The trees alongside her stem from horn drums shaped like cornucopias, each with a human face and a crown of wigs. Shrunken heads of animals and imagined-figures hang from the tree branches.