Untitled [New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, 2005] Possibly 2005 - 2010

This photograph, taken by Richard Misrach in 2005, documents the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina along the Gulf Coast. The image shows a house with "WICKED WITCH" scrawled on its side and, in the distance, a car impossibly perched on another building. I imagine Misrach, camera in hand, walking through this devastated landscape, trying to make sense of the unimaginable. The act of photographing becomes a way of bearing witness, of trying to grasp the scale of the destruction. The light is stark and unflinching, revealing every detail of the wreckage. The writing on the wall feels like a raw, emotional outcry—a desperate attempt to find someone or something to blame. Misrach's work often explores the intersection of nature and humanity, revealing the ways in which we shape and are shaped by our environment. This photograph is a powerful reminder of the vulnerability of human life in the face of natural disaster. It echoes the work of other artists like Robert Adams, who documented the changing American landscape, and connects to a long history of artists grappling with the sublime power of nature.