Louisiana Purchase

This series was photographed fourteen years after Hurricane Katrina. The work emerged following a sleepless and rainy night spent at a pay-by-the-hour motel with a bullet-proof glass protected lobby. Mitch watched When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts by Spike Lee, a documentary that examines the failures of government and human toll surrounding the storm.

While outside for their morning smoke, Mitch was approached by a local. After their conversation Mitch chose to visit the Lower Ninth Ward—one of the most neglected communities during the disaster instead of the French Quarter.

The resulting photographs reflect on the enduring presence of loss and memory. By revisiting the neighborhood more than a decade after the storm, the series considers the long aftermath of displacement and the pace of recovery.