I visited New Orleans for the first time this past February. I was invited to document the efforts of some volunteers, accompanying a group of high school students from the Beacon School in NYC. While there, I witnessed the devastation and destruction that Katrina left in it’s path. The impact of seeing these conditions in person, of complete neighborhoods torn apart and abandoned, was chilling. I met people throughout the city, particularly the residents and volunteers working together to rebuild the Lower 9th Ward. Since my return I have been in the process of organizing a fundraiser, featuring photographs of New Orleans, by many well known and established NY artists, due to show at the Union Gallery in the Tribeca neighborhood of NYC on December 4th. The photographs will be sold to the highest bidders, through a silent auction, with all proceeds going to lowernine.org. They are a non-profit group that has based itself there in the neighborhood, working hand and hand with home-owners and residents of the community. The volunteers are working hard and quickly to clean homes (from mold etc.), rewire and rebuild to get people back in, mowing lawns (to show that these homes are not abandoned by choice), hanging the street signs that have not been replaced since the storm, and much more. They are people that have come from all over the country to make a difference where others have left off.
-Orrie King (photographer and curator)
Monday, October 27, 2008
Photographer Anthony Alvarez
Untitled (1) (man with dog), 25"x 30" SOLD
Untitled (2) 25" x 30" $250
ANTHONY ALVAREZ
The French Quarter
Carriage rides and Creole.
Beignets and Hurricanes...
References to the past stay as markers for the future.
People stay, and continue...
www.anthonyalvarezphoto.com
Photographer Lani Bouwer
Perpetual Care 2008
20" x 24" $250
Blue Backboard 2008
20" x 24" $250
Preservation Hall 2008
20" x 24" $250
LANI BOUWER
Three years after the Hurricane hit, I visited New Orleans. The remnants of the destruction, the houses still damaged or destroyed, businesses that will never re-open, and the people living in the tent city right next to the center of town. It was a poignant and moving experience to see the evidence of how our government failed its own people and the trauma still so raw to New Orleans’ people. What amazed me about New Orleans was it’s resilience. People so proud of their city, changed forever but with spirit so strong you could almost breathe it in.
A visit to the street festival was full of color, noise, music, and people out for celebration. Yet the moments I felt the most connected to New Orleans, were the moments when I was alone. The stories were being whispered in my ear as I wandered through old graveyards, read in parks, listened to jazz. The slow decay of old structures caused by time, the vestiges of human touch long past, the sounds that graced the interiors of old buildings long before I was alive. The mystery and hints of times past are what captivated me in New Orleans.
www.lanibouwer.blogspot.com
Photographer Joshua Bright
Airport, 11"x 14", $150
Tough Times, 11"x 14", $150
Star of David, 11"x 14", $150
JOSHUA BRIGHT
In January of 2008, award winning British photojounalist Joshua Bright accompanied a group of Jewish teenagers, from the Riverdale section of the Bronx, to help in the post Katrina New Orleans cleanup. Their work their included some days of volunteering with lowernine.org.
Three 11"x 14" color c-print photographs depict scenes from their visit: arriving at the airport, recovering a damaged Israeli flag from the mold and dirt left in a synagogue and words of hope in a Kosher New Orleans deli.
www. joshuabright.com
Video Installation by Documentary Film Artist Brenda Davis
Film Still taken from Video Installation
BRENDA DAVIS
The young activists of NY2NO are inspired by the Australian Aboriginal Activist, Lila Watson, who said, ‘If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time, but if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.’
This piece is inspired by the work of NY2NO.
Photographer Orrie King
"Bus, New Orleans 2008"
16"x 20" SOLD
"Street Signs, New Orleans 2008"
16" x 20" SOLD
"Roof, New Orleans 2008"
16" x 20" $250
ORRIE KING
I visited New Orleans for the first time this past February. I was invited to document the ongoing cleanup efforts, accompanying a group of high school students from the Beacon School in NYC. While there, I witnessed the devastation and destruction that Katrina left in its path. The impact of seeing these conditions in person, of complete neighborhoods torn apart and abandoned, was chilling. I met people throughout the city, particularly a group of residents and volunteers working together to rebuild the Lower 9th Ward.
Impressed by the resilience of the people that I met and in support of their ongoing efforts, I present to you the exhibition and fundraiser, “Rebuilding New Orleans”. Together, with 9 other artists whom I have chosen, we will auction our work with 100% of the proceeds from sales benefiting lowernine.org.
They are a group of people that are actively working, making a difference where help is still needed.
-Orrie King (photographer and curator)
www.orrieking.com
Photographer Todd MacIntire
Untitled (Water Damage)
20" x 24" $250
Untitled (family album)
20" x 24" $250
Untitled (Water Damage house)
20" x 24" $250
TODD MACINTIRE
I traveled to New Orleans on one of the first flights after the airport was reopened, almost a month to the day after Hurricane Katrina. I was amazed at how quickly Nature had crept in to take over. The water from the flood was gone, but it had left nearly nothing in the city untouched. The smells were so pungent, and the markings so beautiful. There was definitely an example being make of humanity, and the impermanence that we all seem to forget.
Photographer Mark Murray
Photographer Tod Seelie
House Puddle 2008
20" x 20" SOLD
Ellery Yard 2008
20" x 20" $250
Bumper Cars 2008
20" x 20" SOLD
TOD SEELIE
I visited New Orleans for the first time since Katrina this past Spring. It was a conglomeration of staying in abandoned houses, second line marches and bouncing between the waterfront and an abandoned amusement park. I found a city of community, random violence, and uncertainty.
www.todseelie.com
Photographer Carla Shapiro
Regrets and Possibilities, New Orleans, Slidell Apartment 200620"x 24" $250
Regrets and Possibilities, New Orleans, Lower Ninth Ward, Wardrobe 2006
20"x 24" SOLD
CARLA SHAPIRO
I search for deserted houses that are dilapidated, crumbling, flooded or burned out. Their stillness has a mystery that attracts me, their structure a worn splendor. These buildings have both charisma and decay. I fill rooms with furniture, pictures, and flowers eliminating the emptiness but accentuating the loneliness. I move life and soul into barren rooms, fresh hope into an abandoned house.
I search for vacant structures, move in, set up, and photograph. My furniture creates potential in the barren space, dichotomizes new and old, strong and fragile, protective and dangerous. I have created mementos of what might have been in a former time. We have entered into an era of nostalgia because realities are so disturbing.
I photograph houses that are empty or filled with belongings covered in mud and mildew. There is sadness in what is, and hope in what can change.
www.carlashapiro.com
Photographer Alex M. Smith
Homeless Relief Workers
20" x 24" $250
Lawless High School Gym
20" x 24" SOLD
Vigel, Former 9th Ward resident
20" x 24" SOLD
ALEX M. SMITH
I went to New Orleans about nine months after hurricane Katrina. I really had no idea what to expect in terms of the remaining damage or the state of the people. Was I in America? Nearly a whole year had gone by and it appeared that the hurricane had occurred just a few days ago. There had been no visible effort to fix things. Aside from the few people working on their homes or others trying to turn a profit off of rusty metal they had stripped from cars, the ninth ward was completely deserted. Many rumors had surfaced of the city taking the land and re-selling it, but despite this, the majority of the people I encountered were set on staying. The people I met in New Orleans had a certain bond and pride that I have yet to come across again in my life.
www.asisfoto.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
