Art Scene

Roy Ferdinand was part of a burgeoning Outsider art scene in New Orleans which hit its highest notes in the years before Hurricane Katrina. Ferdinand started his career at Barrister’s, a French Quarter gallery that over two decades represented dozens of Outsiders, sometimes providing working space—and occasionally crash pad sleeping berths—for artists who often lived on tight margins. Roy counted owner Andy Antippas, manager Maury O’Rourk, curator A.J. Boudreaux, and the gallery’s stable of artists among his best friends and supporters.

Photos by Bill Sasser