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

This photograph, taken in 2005 by Richard Misrach, captures a house in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, its facade spray-painted with the words "Katrina is a Bitch." I can only imagine the emotional intensity of the scene and the artist’s desire to capture it. Misrach, like a painter mixing colors on a palette, uses the light and shadow to convey a sense of desolation and anger. The broken window, the discarded personal objects scattered on the ground – each element feels deliberate, carefully composed to evoke a powerful emotional response. I wonder what it was like for Misrach to stand there, framing this view. Did he feel helpless? Did he consider what that text might mean? Or did he think, like me, about the way that blunt, crude, vernacular typography captures the raw emotion of the moment?