Monday, February 20, 2006

in person




we went to the 9th ward in new orleans yesterday while in town. we've all seen the pictures....but seeing it in person just leaves you speechless. and then there are the aspects of it that you don't get in a photo. my eyes started burning to the point of tearing up before we had even crossed the bridge. this was in a closed car...adn almost SIX months later. visually, it was a great big kick in the gut. cars on top of houses, under houses, upright jammed against houses. roofs on the ground with nothing under them. houses moved off their foundations.....all the things you know happened....but seeing them in person was such a different experience. at one point i got out to photograph a piece of fence buried in the debris. i stood there looking at that pile for minutes as i slowly began to get a sense of the scope of it...and idetify things....it was only then that i realized there was a CAR under the pile i was looking at. it was a very humbling experience adn my heart goes out even more to all the residents of that area....we took some photos , not a lot. and looking at them i realize how little information they convey compared to the immense scope of it. and this is 6 months out.
here are a couple :

4 Comments:

Blogger Dale Anne Potter said...

Oh Claire.......I think your photos give us more than you know!
I live in Canada and seeing it all on TV was heartbreaking....I sometimes dream of being down in the area and trying to help piece people's lives back together.
I don't see how I can do it but I think of all of them often.
THANKS for posting those pictures, very touching and revealing.
We must NOT forget about all those people! Its NOT over!

8:20 AM  
Blogger Nora and James McDowell said...

Yes, indeed, very touching, and how to recover from such destruction....
The other year I "saved" a picture of a quilt from a book called Art Quilts, I believe.
The quilt was created by Merril Mason, of Jersey City, New Jersey in 1991, and called "Scrap Thatch." It won a "Quilt National '93 Award of Excellence"
It was created using photo transfer, and various threads and flosses and looks absolutely eerily like your photos of the rubble, especially that, beneath the truck.
Nora ( also from Canada)

9:05 PM  
Blogger Karoda said...

The sign is most poignant...indeed, it seems that the federal government has been destroyed and the only thing that matters is hunting down terrorists.

9:06 PM  
Blogger cfent said...

it was difficult to take photos there. you feel as tho you're intruding on people's lives... yet it also seems to be important to do it.... what a dichotomy. a perfect portrait of life here now
thanks for teh comments.. its nice to know there are still people out there who care....

8:01 PM  

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