The Louisiana State Museum Presents Before (During) After: Louisiana Photographers Visual Reactions to Hurricane Katrina on view through through August 31.
The exhibition, Before (During) After, at the Louisiana State Museum Presbytere is a collection of 38 large-format photographic prints paired with personal artist’s statements illustrating the impact of Hurricane Katrina on the vision and work of 12 Louisiana photographers. The show complements the Museum’s permanent exhibition Living with Hurricanes: Katrina and Beyond, also at the Presbytere.
“Solomon,” by New Orleans photographer Frank Relle, is one of 38 large format images in Before During After at the Presbytere. The photograph depicts a vacant lot on North Solomon Street in New Orleans in 2007, two years after Hurricane Katrina.
“Louisiana’s recovery from the 2005 storms has been marked by a spirit of creativity and resilience,” said Tony Lewis, Louisiana State Museum Curator of Visual Arts. “The artists represented in Before During After saw what happened here, captured it vividly, and were forever changed by the experience.”
The exhibition is accompanied by a 124-page book of the same title (University of New Orleans Press, $24.95) featuring essays and commentary.
The Louisiana State Museum (LSM), founded in New Orleans in 1906 and still headquartered there, is a complex of National Historic Landmarks housing thousands of artifacts and works of art reflecting Louisiana’s legacy of historic events and cultural diversity.
The Museum operates five properties in the historic French Quarter: The Cabildo, The Presbytère, the 1850 House, the Old U.S. Mint and Madame John’s Legacy. Other sites include Louisiana State Museum – Patterson, Louisiana, Louisiana State Museum – Baton Rouge, the Old Courthouse Museum in Natchitoches, and the E.D. White Historic Site in Thibodaux.
Louisiana State Museum
51 Chartres Street
New Orleans, La. 70116
http://lsm.crt.state.la.us