In the Lower Ninth Ward, an Artist Renews His Purpose

Kevin Beasley was invited to create an installation in New Orleans for a few months. Instead he bought land, and met his neighbors.

NEW ORLEANS — The cookout in the new garden, guests agreed, upheld the cultural and convivial traditions of the Lower Ninth Ward.

Herlin Riley, a celebrated jazz drummer from the neighborhood, was grooving with his quintet beneath the canopy. Old-timers, friends since high school, held forth at a long table near the stage. The photographers Keith Calhoun and Chandra McCormick, important local documentarians, were present.

Tending chicken thighs and beef ribs from the trailer grill hitched to his truck, Errol Houston conferred the seal of Lower Ninth legitimacy. “What you see here is like a normal family picnic with neighbors,” he said. “There’s people here who know my aunts and uncles.”