Situated in Norco, Louisiana—at the intersection of racial history and environmental degradation—this project reclaims a site where centuries of black histories converge. Once a cornerstone of the plantation economy, Norco is home to burial grounds of enslaved Africans and was the ending site of the largest slave rebellion in American history, the 1811 German Coast Uprising. Today, it is the Shell Oil Refinery, emblematic of the industrial pollution that defines the region now known as Cancer Alley, where over 200 petrochemical plants operate along the Mississippi River.
This project proposes a counter-archive—a spatial response to the systemic erasure of Black histories and continued environmental harm. Drawing from the ritual of the New Orleans funeral procession, the design constructs a layered narrative of grief, resistance, and celebration. A suspended structure shelters a memorial and archive above the sacred burial grounds, elevating lost histories. A procession path—embedded with sound and movement—evokes the spirit of the second line, leading visitors toward a riverside amphitheater for collective remembrance and future-oriented gathering.
The project aims to confront historical violence through the proposal of a new relationship to land—one rooted in justice, memory, and the ongoing resilience of Black life.
