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In a city famous for its cemeteries, one of the strangest is easy to miss. Its tombs are scattered in locations that seem improbable for interments: an antique shop, an old hotel, a museum. But these tombs have never held human occupants. Standing less than a foot tall, each is a meticulously handcrafted miniature facsimile of one of New Orleans’s famous above-ground mausoleums.
Launched in 2017, NOLA Tiny Tombs offers an unconventional (and free) self-guided wander through the “City that Care Forgot,” leading the curious to places of historical and cultural interest. Each Tiny Tomb is a tiny work of art, sculpted and handpainted by artist Lady Delaney, whose work blends art, history, and immersive elements, and whose other offerings include puzzle games and social media treasure hunts. When creating the tombs, Delaney conducted extensive research in the New Orleans cemeteries, modeling her sculptures on their architecture, but also incorporating references to New Orleans multiculturalism, weaving German, French, Irish, African, and Chocktaw inspiration into the tombs’ names and stories.
Players are invited to imagine the character within each tomb through a corresponding website “archive” on Delaney’s website. The list of Tiny Tomb locations is updated yearly as new sites are added or tombs are moved.