No Kings Protest, New Orleans
Charles Lovell | Louisiana, United States
Photographer: Charles Lovell
Exhibit Title: No Kings Protest, New Orleans
Location: Louisiana, United States
Photographic documentation of the No Kings Protest in New Orleans, Louisiana June 14, 2025. Protestors took to the streets to challenge President Trump and his administration in New Orleans's style with unique costumes and signs. Chants, crowds, and collective outrage filled the streets of New Orleans’ Marigny neighborhood Saturday morning as protesters joined thousands nationwide in the “No Kings” marches. The No Kings! protest in New Orleans paralleled the satire-fueled rejection of monarchy found at the heart of Mardi Gras. Drawing visual and cultural parallels to the city's second line parades—traditions rooted in Black resistance and celebration—this portfolio focuses on how public procession becomes a space of both joy and defiance. Just as second lines reclaim the streets through music and movement, No Kings! subverts imperial imagery with mockery, costume, and collective energy. The photographs capture the blurred line between ritual and rebellion, highlighting how New Orleans' rich cultural heritage is continually repurposed to challenge power.
Charles Muir Lovell’s passion is photographing people within their cultures. Upon moving to New Orleans, he began documenting the city’s second line parades, social aid and pleasure clubs, and brass bands, documenting and preserving for posterity a unique and vibrant part of Louisiana’s rich cultural heritage. His photographs have been exhibited nationally and internationally, are found in several permanent collections, including the New Orleans Museum of Art, The Ogden Museum of Southern Art and the Historic New Orleans Collection, and can be seen on Instagram @CharlesLovellArt, and in two past Oxford American Articles Charle Lovell The Second Line, 2017 and The Second Line Part II, 2019. He received the Michael P. Smith Documentary Photographer of the Year Award in 2020 from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities.
Peace and Love
Charles Muir Lovell
816 Pacific Avenue
New Orleans, LA 70114 Email: charleslovellart@gmail.com
Website: www.charleslovell.com Cell: (575) 770-0095
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