When the Water Came: Evacuees of Hurricane Katrina Interview Poems by Cythnia Hogue Photographs by Rebecca Ross		Print This Page Email This Page

A Collection of Poems and Photographs responding to
Hurricane Katrina, in conjunction with the Fifth Anniversary
of that Natural Disaster. 

The Gallery@The Library
September 10 through November 26, 2010

When the Water Came: Evacuees of Hurricane Katrina is a compelling collection of interview-poems by Cynthia Hogue and photographs by Rebecca Ross that portrays the experiences of twelve evacuees.

Hogue and Ross shared a concern that the actual voices and photographs of ordinary people from all walks of life be part of Hurricane Katrina’s story.  They met people like Freddie Munn, a disabled man who built a raft of doors, then swam to safety after his raft capsized, spending the next week on a bridge before being rescued, and Ardie Cooper, a casino bartender, who clung with her daughter to the roof of their home while being inundated by the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

When the Water Came gives form and voice to the resourcefulness of individual evacuees expressed through their own words and in the photographs of faces, rescued possessions, and lost homes.  Through images and words, these survivors tell us about courage, dignity, and resilience.

The exhibit also features two related short films, running continuously in the gallery.

NOLA, (6 min.) a short film by Marylou and Jerome Bongiorno, is an impressionistic series of images of Katrina-devastated New Orleans set to music.  Underlying themes include: water, global warming, receding wetlands, breached levees, and a vulnerable New Orleans.

EMPTY HOUSES, (23 min.) is an autobiographical video essay by Noah Saterstrom, following four road trips to his home state of Mississippi in which he gives a guided tour of vacant spaces including an abandoned family home, a ruined plantation, a suicide house, and a demolished coastal town.

Acknowledgements
When the Water Came: Evacuees of Hurricane Katrina is supported in part by: Arizona Commission on the Arts with funding from the State of Arizona and the National Endowment for the Arts; city of Tempe, Arizona; Maxine and Jonathan Marshall Chair in Modern and Contemporary Poetry at Arizona State University; Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing at Arizona State University; Department of English at Arizona State University; College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University; Sonoran Print Editions; and Ted Decker Catalyst Fund.
 
Additional thanks to those who have supported presentations of this project through donations and print purchases: Linda Bauer; Catherine R. Capozzoli; Charlotte L. Mandel; Kathleen Page; Kate and Hank Timmerman; and the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University.

Events and Workshops in TheGallery@theLibrary
Free to the Public

Monday, September 27, 2010, 6:30 to 7:30 PM
Reading group led by Paul Morris
When the Water Came: Evacuees of Hurricane Katrina
by Cynthia Hogue and Rebecca Ross

Tuesday, October 5, 6:30 to 7:30 PM 
“Poetry and Disaster” Lecture by Nicole Cooley

Disaster shuts down language. Disaster can’t be fathomed. Disaster stops all speech because the suffering it causes is so total and complete.  This is a common way we speak about disaster. 

This presentation will explore contemporary poetry that arises in direct response to a disaster, a writing of disaster. Disaster is so often discussed in terms of silence and the inability to speak, but we will explore about how disaster produces speech, writing and testimony and how disaster is produced through language.  We will talk, too, about the cultural work that the writing of disaster can do in the world, as we consider several recent large-scale disasters in the US including 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina.

Monday October 25, 6:30 to 7:30 PM
Reading group led by Paul Morris
“Voices from the Storm: The People of New Orleans on Hurricane Katrina and Its Aftermath” edited by Lola Vollen and Chris Ying

Thursday, October 28
Free Painting Workshop: Connecting Perception and Abstraction
with Emily Dygert, artist and Katrina evacuee
Thursday October 28, 2 to 4 pm
RSVP to RSmith@sccarts.org
Create a visual narrative that expresses your experience. Explore how color, shape and texture connect with our perception of everyday surroundings.
The workshop is going to be mixed media painting, using acrylics and textured materials such as sand, seeds, and eggshells on board. Ms. Dygert's images are now on display at the Civic Center Library.
Limit 20 participants

Friday November 19, 4:30 to 6:30 PM 
Reception and Meet & Greet with Artists and Hurricane Katrina Evacuees, with poetry reading by Cynthia Hogue

Monday, November 22, 2010, 6:30 to 7:30 PM
Reading group led by Paul Morris
“Zeitoun” by Dave Eggers

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