Juju
In 2005 hurricane Katrina hit our small town of Bay St. Louis on the Mississippi coastline destroying our home, studios and nearly all their contents... 30 years of work gone within hours. When I returned to the Gulf Coast and walked through the wreckage I was struck by how most everything had just disappeared but also by what was left behind…small items that told a story about their owners… a group of dolls or old tools, a rocking horse from childhood, stacks of old LP’s, odd still lifes of tchotchkes and bric- a- brac ... all small pieces that were part of someone’s life… mementos, lucky charms, Juju.
As I watched other families return searching their lots for any sign that would connect them to their past it reminded me of scenes I witnessed while photographing in the cemeteries ... people searching for their loved ones... now our town had become a graveyard of memories. Everyone seemed to move in slow motion and no matter how small or insignificant it looked to someone else you could feel the joy and emotion for every piece that was recovered. It was a rather strange thing to focus on but perhaps I was still in shock and couldn't really take in the scope of what had happened...
This experience made me look at objects and images in a different way… I began looking at them as a cultural portrait which is both emotionally and intellectually anchored in memory. As I started to collect objects for this series, some saved from Katrina others from friends collections, the objects took on a whole new meaning…The objects become metaphors in the larger scheme of things…mourning and remembrance, history and culture, childhood and play, desire and longing.
As I watched other families return searching their lots for any sign that would connect them to their past it reminded me of scenes I witnessed while photographing in the cemeteries ... people searching for their loved ones... now our town had become a graveyard of memories. Everyone seemed to move in slow motion and no matter how small or insignificant it looked to someone else you could feel the joy and emotion for every piece that was recovered. It was a rather strange thing to focus on but perhaps I was still in shock and couldn't really take in the scope of what had happened...
This experience made me look at objects and images in a different way… I began looking at them as a cultural portrait which is both emotionally and intellectually anchored in memory. As I started to collect objects for this series, some saved from Katrina others from friends collections, the objects took on a whole new meaning…The objects become metaphors in the larger scheme of things…mourning and remembrance, history and culture, childhood and play, desire and longing.
