First hand view of Katrina comes to UWGB
Danielle Butz
Issue date: 9/18/08 Section: Entertainment
There will be New Orleans jazz music and a response board available for students to see.
"This is a tender time with hurricane season, with the anniversary of Katrina right around the corner and the threats, recently, of three other hurricanes, this show is just a reminder of the lack of help throughout natural disaster history that communities and nations face," Perkins said.
Strembicki is a photography professor at Washington University in St. Louis. He has a long and continuing relationship with New Orleans, which began in 1984.
He did a sabbatical there in 1993, where he lived in the French Quarter and photographed it day in and day out.
His favorite works are Mardi Gras, nude figurative work and shots of Memphis and the idea of Graceland as a cultural icon.
Yet, as an artist, when Katrina hit, he needed to respond to it. Arriving only 30 days after the storm demolished New Orleans, he decided to photograph a little of everything.
"If you drive a white pickup truck with an orange hat and a magnetic sign Disaster Assessment Relief Team, the police will let you get into anywhere you would like," Strembicki said. "Therefore, I used this as a means of getting into the part of towns that were shut down."
He then traveled down to New Orleans as much as possible for the next year.
"I chose not to show anyone any of the work for a little over a year," Strembicki said.
He then settled into three or four different themes.
One of his main themes from New Orleans is snapshots of pictures from family photo albums, which, "acted as stand-ins for the people who weren't there," Strembicki said.
Schools were yet another theme for Strembicki. He found two high schools, two elementary schools and one middle school. All ruined, he wanted to eventually go back to these same schools to photograph them as they were being renovated or with students back in them.
The majority of these schools were completely torn down.
"It was so overwhelming, as an artist, going into a natural disaster area, and finding a mode of art to depict the tragedy," Strembicki said.
"This is a tender time with hurricane season, with the anniversary of Katrina right around the corner and the threats, recently, of three other hurricanes, this show is just a reminder of the lack of help throughout natural disaster history that communities and nations face," Perkins said.
Strembicki is a photography professor at Washington University in St. Louis. He has a long and continuing relationship with New Orleans, which began in 1984.
He did a sabbatical there in 1993, where he lived in the French Quarter and photographed it day in and day out.
His favorite works are Mardi Gras, nude figurative work and shots of Memphis and the idea of Graceland as a cultural icon.
Yet, as an artist, when Katrina hit, he needed to respond to it. Arriving only 30 days after the storm demolished New Orleans, he decided to photograph a little of everything.
"If you drive a white pickup truck with an orange hat and a magnetic sign Disaster Assessment Relief Team, the police will let you get into anywhere you would like," Strembicki said. "Therefore, I used this as a means of getting into the part of towns that were shut down."
He then traveled down to New Orleans as much as possible for the next year.
"I chose not to show anyone any of the work for a little over a year," Strembicki said.
He then settled into three or four different themes.
One of his main themes from New Orleans is snapshots of pictures from family photo albums, which, "acted as stand-ins for the people who weren't there," Strembicki said.
Schools were yet another theme for Strembicki. He found two high schools, two elementary schools and one middle school. All ruined, he wanted to eventually go back to these same schools to photograph them as they were being renovated or with students back in them.
The majority of these schools were completely torn down.
"It was so overwhelming, as an artist, going into a natural disaster area, and finding a mode of art to depict the tragedy," Strembicki said.
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