Bruce Sunpie Barnes is a New Orleans musician, book author and ethnographic photographer. Sunpie has masked skeleton for 27 years and is current the Big Chief of the Northside Skull and Bone Gang, one of the oldest Afro-Creole carnival groups in the United States, which began its traditions in 1819. He is a 22-year member of the Black Men of Labor Social Aid and Pleasure Club and the band leader of the popular New Orleans musical group Sunpie and the Louisiana Sunspots. His has co-authored two books, Talk That Music Talk an Le Kèr Creole (The Creole Heart).

Sunpie is a former National Park Service Ranger (32 years), former college football All-American, and former NFL football player for the Kansas City Chiefs. Sunpie Barnes’ many careers have taken him far and wide. He has traveled to over 60 countries playing his own style of what he calls Afro-Louisiana music incorporating blues, zydeco, creole jazz, gospel, work songs, Caribbean and African influenced rhythms and melodies. He is a multi-instrumentalist, mastering accordion, harmonica, and piano along with rubboard, talking drum, and djembe.

During his residency, he will create a Skull and Bone suit that connects the remembrance of Louisiana Afro-Creole Maroon Culture. This work will embody the spirit and remembrance of masking tradition through images, song, music and the collection and identification of edible medicinal plants used for survival in Louisiana Maroon culture.