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

Richard Misrach’s photograph from 2005 captures a house in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast after what feels like an act of ruination. I can imagine the artist, maybe like a crime scene photographer, trying to make sense of the aftermath. "I'll miss you," someone has spray-painted in orange, a raw sentiment against the brick. You can almost smell the dampness and feel the weight of what's been lost. What does it mean to leave a mark like this on a structure? It's as if the house itself is weeping. Misrach is known for his large-scale photographs of the American West and the effect of industrialization on the natural landscape. But this isn't a landscape: it's a portrait, a document, a lament, a memorial to the home. I think of other photographers who engage with catastrophe, who seek to find a language for disaster. It’s a form of embodied expression, embracing the fact that there are no easy answers, just layers of ambiguity and feelings.