Remembering Hurricane Katrina on its 17th aninversary

Bathroom in private home on Lake Pontchartrain, LA.

17 years ago today, on August 29, 2005, New Orleans’ poorly maintained levees broke and flooded the city when #HurricaneKatrina hit New Orleans. The privileged few were able to flee the disaster while thousands were left in flooded streets and on the rooftops of their homes. Over 1,800 people died as a result.

Corner store, 9th Ward, New Orleans

Katrina brought widespread damage and death to New Orleans and surrounding areas, including parts of Mississippi and Alabama.

9th Ward home

"Hurricane Katrina was the costliest and one of the deadliest hurricanes to strike the United States in recorded history. Katrina's destruction wasn't limited to just Louisiana and Mississippi with damage reported as far east as the Florida Panhandle due to the large wind field and storm surge associated with the hurricane. In all, Hurricane Katrina was responsible for 1,833 fatalities and caused $125 billion dollars in damage.

 

Gas station on the Corner of Desire in the 9th Ward.

For all image requests and reproduction rights, please contact Artists Rights Society (ARSNY).

 Bernd and Hilla Becher 

Now on view at The Met Fifth Avenue 

July 15 – November 6, 2022

Water Towers (New York, United States), 1978–79

 Bernd and Hilla Becher 

The German artists Bernd and Hilla Becher (1931–2007; 1934–2015) changed the course of late twentieth-century photography. Working as a rare artist couple, they focused on a single subject: the disappearing industrial architecture of Western Europe and North America. Their objective style resonated with the serial approach of contemporary Minimalism and Conceptual art. 

Using a large-format view camera, the Bechers methodically recorded blast furnaces, winding towers, grain silos, cooling towers, and gas tanks with precision, elegance, and passion. Their rigorous, standardized practice allowed for comparative analyses of structures that they exhibited in grids of between four and thirty photographs.

This posthumous retrospective in shown with the minimalist works by Carl Andre and Sol LeWitt. As you leave the exhibition you see how the Becher's fit so well into contemporary sculpture.