I recently came across the work of Demond Melancon, an artist from New Orleans "with extensive roots in the Black Masking Culture." If you're not aware of the Black Masking Culture, it's an homage to Native Americans and the African diaspora told through incredible elaborate costuming, always involving extremely intricate beading work. Here's a 2 minute documentary on that to catch you up.

Melancon takes the traditions of these Mardi Gras Indians and applies them to his fine art portraits. Most of the images from his site do not give the sense intricacy or scale involved with these pieces but they are often huge and always incredibly detailed.

I find the work to be fascinating from all angles - the method of execution in making it, the actual illustration style itself and the story each pieces tells.

You can find Melancon on Instagram, naturally.