The 10 Year Journey: Reflections of Family, Identity & New Orleans 2005-

Artist’s Statement

I almost never came back to New Orleans. Seeing my destroyed city and abandoned people hurt me. Then, I started taking pictures. August 29, 2005 made me a photographer. But this exhibition isn’t about that event. It’s about the life in the days and years afterwards. This is a visual narrative of growth and struggles.  

Since 2005, I’ve wanted to make a monumental statement about the storm, the flood and its equally destructive bureaucracy. Yet, I’ve dismissed Katrina, personally, even as I obsessed over it professionally.  I couldn’t always segregate the personal and the professional. So I brought them together and told my own stories. This is how I’ve dealt with rage, depression, underemployment, unrequited love; this is how I documented my family, explored my city and preserved its culture. Those themes are universal. It’s where I found the good. For me, exploring the intersection of pain and healing is where the journey begins.

Archival pigment print editions
Various sizes