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

Richard Misrach made this photograph in 2005, as part of his series documenting the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. While Misrach is known as a fine art photographer, here the medium serves to document a scene of total catastrophe: a landscape transformed by raw natural forces. What would normally be discrete objects – a house, a car, a boat – are here fused into a single, absurdly precarious assemblage. The material reality speaks volumes. The car, once a symbol of personal mobility and economic status, is now just another piece of debris, as is the boat, normally a means of recreation or livelihood. Consider the labor and resources embodied in these objects, now rendered useless. The photograph bears witness to a moment when the normal order of things is upended, and the illusion of control over our environment is shattered. It challenges any distinction between art and documentation, between individual and collective experience.