Katrina’s Wake
- Words
- Anke Nunheim
American photographer Chris Jordan created this series in New Orleans in December 2005, which portrays the cost of hurricane Katrina on a personal scale. Although the subject is quite different from earlier works of his series ‘Intolerable Beauty’, this project is motivated by the same concerns about the runaway consumerism by todays society.
+ Read MoreSandy just hit America and there is evidence to assume that her and Katrina were not an entirely natural event just like an earthquake or a tsunami. Almost 300,000 Americans lost everything they owned in the Katrina disaster. The question in Jordan’s mind is, whether we are all responsible in some degree. In his words ‘From that perspective, my hope is that these images might encourage some reflection on the part that we each play, and the loss that we all suffer, when a preventable catastrophe of this magnitude happens to the people of our own country. Katrina has illuminated our interconnectedness, and it makes our personal accountability as members of a conscious society ever more difficult to deny.’ We think it’s worth considering that for a second, not only watching, but taking action, no matter how small it might be.
All images © Chris Jordan
