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

Richard Misrach made this photograph somewhere in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in 2005. The electric blue of the wall is so intense. It’s as if the wall is screaming out its own survival. I imagine Misrach facing this scene after Hurricane Katrina, trying to find some sense in the destruction, hoping the camera can make meaning out of trauma. Look at the graffiti, a desperate memorial to lost lives – “RIP Zack, Lil Joe”. Someone felt the need to make a mark, to say ‘I was here, we were here, they mattered.’ It's kind of like the raw marks in a Cy Twombly painting. The broken telephone pole and the smashed building speak of sudden violence, but the blue wall persists. I imagine other photographers like Sophie Calle or Nan Goldin, who also know how to use photography to tell a story. Misrach isn't just showing us damage; he's hinting at the human need to remember, to rebuild, to find a way forward.