Inspired by a long-shuttered landmark, the artist’s new exhibition finds a home at Jonathan Carver Moore Gallery in San Francisco.
During its peak, New Orleans’ Lincoln Beach was a sight to behold: lithe divers careened into deep pools, and eager crowds lined up for carnival games and concerts. During Jim Crow, its grounds offered a haven for the city’s Black population during a time when African Americans were banned from other waterfront parks in the state. But when neighboring beaches were desegregated in 1964, the park shuttered and eventually, after decades of abandonment, became inhospitable.
Born and raised in the Crescent City, artist Auudi Dorsey first learned of the beach in 2013, hopping trains and passing through forests to reach its then-dilapidated grounds. He was amazed to realize its Black history and began researching the waterfront, asking community elders to share stories and seeking out archival images and documents, subsequently sketching imagined scenes from its heyday. He discovered photographs of Black New Orleanians diving and swimming by the coast, fitted in retro gear. These images stood in contrast with the New Orleans that he knew. “I’m looking at these kids approaching water from a different experience, versus how people look at water during post-Katrina,” he explained. A picture of youthful students donning wraparound swim caps, ready for lessons, especially struck him. “I was like, ‘I want to recreate that feeling.’ … That was a very beautiful moment to see these kids in such confidence.”
When Dorsey was invited for a residency at Jonathan Carver Moore Gallery in San Francisco, it felt like the right moment to revisit the sketches of Black swimmers he had been developing for years. Working in a spacious studio, he was able to paint on a grand scale — his largest paintings yet — rendering these Black swimmers at life size. Six of the works from the new series debuted in the exhibition What’s Left, Never Left on October 9, and will remain on view through January 31, 2026.
Full of whimsy and introspection in equal measure, Dorsey’s paintings both celebrate and mourn the history of Lincoln Beach, as well as the joy it brought to Black New Orleanians during segregation. The protagonist of “Where the Sand Meets Water” (2025) stands in adolescent triumph, with a retro-striped towel wrapped around her neck. Across the room, “A Day Like 1964” (2025) features smiling girls adjusting their goggles while donning black swimsuits, and Soul Caps protecting their hair. In the center of the light-filled gallery, a reclining bather is concealed by a jumbo beach ball rendered in vibrant multicolor, an exciting contrast to Dorsey’s otherwise darkened canvases…