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

This photograph by Richard Misrach, taken in 2005, shows us a house in New Orleans, a house painted a hopeful, but slightly faded blue. And then, scrawled on its side, the words, "T and E, we love what you've done with the place!" The photograph has this incredible flatness, a directness. Misrach isn't trying to pretty things up, but instead gives us the scene as it is. The paint on the house looks like it's trying to hold on, just like the house itself. And those words, sprayed in a dark color, they’re so loaded, so sarcastic. I find myself thinking about Gordon Matta-Clark, who cut into buildings to reveal new perspectives. Misrach does something similar here, exposing the raw emotion layered into this space, a space marked by loss and resilience. It's a conversation, this photograph, about what remains when everything else is gone. It’s not just one answer, but many.