By Nathan Alexander
“In Hurricane Katrina’s Wake: Photography” is an exhibition of work by Josh Williams from the Plattsburgh State Art Museum collection on exhibit in the Feinberg Library lobby through May 18. The photographs on display were curated by students in Associate Professor of Art Dr. Michaela Rife’s honors seminar, Photography and the Environment.
Williams’ photographs of the immediate aftermath capture the wake of destruction as well as the government’s inadequate response efforts to aid trapped residents of New Orleans. Williams, a graduate of SUNY Plattsburgh, gained experience as a photo editor for Cardinal Points.
After graduating college, Williams became a freelance photographer, gaining practical experience embedded with the American military in Iraq. The ability to photograph in precarious environments carried over to the photographs in New Orleans.
The photographs taken by Williams express the toll Hurricane Katrina had on the New Orleans community. One photo depicts a survivor being provided with medical aid, while others show survivors waiting days to be moved out of the flood zone. The ethical implications of displaying photographs of disaster victims in their most vulnerable moments was debated by students curating the display. The class weighed the importance of showcasing the inadequacies of the response to the disaster against concerns of presenting exploitative imagery.
With these considerations in mind, the class decided to tell the full story of the disaster with the photographs on display. Starting with rising flood waters trapping people and pets within their homes followed by many being transported to the superdome where inadequacies in supplies, threatening guards and cramped conditions were normal. It is from the whole of these experiences on the ground that the true impact of Hurricane Katrina can be understood through Williams’ photographs.
