After Katrina destroyed the churches I documented, as well as the entirety of the Lower Ninth Ward, I was pulled to return to this neighborhood in New Orleans. I then created a literal representation of the walls of homes destroyed, and the remains of the items that once adorned them. The images shown on the "Flood Wall" instillation are of people who experienced first-hand the turmoil of loss of all material belongings, livelihood, and loved ones due to the breach of the levy. The internal wall represents the present state of the homes in this area, and the outer wall reveals the physical state of the houses, churches, and neighborhood businesses that remain.

The installation "Incubation Period" is a reaction to similar physical and emotional transience. Many philosophies and belief systems reference water as a metaphor to the reality of constant change. Analysts of the mind also advocate that the submergence in water in an isolated environment invokes subconscious thought. In this piece, water surrounds my own past recording of places, experience, people, and emotions. The fragmented memories are installed in what seems to be an incubator, or isolation tank, one that is a sacred place where memories and thoughts are safe to remain disarrayed in a protected environment. The scattered imagery references New Orleans, New York, New Mexico, and Cannes, all places I have lived in the past year and a half. This installation serves as an emotional catharsis for an overwhelming personal transformation that has occurred since Katrina.


...Previous     Next...