Ten months after
Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans, Brooklynites can catch
a glimpse of life in the Big Easy after the big storm.
Taken by Crown Heights’s own Delphine Fawundu-Buford in March,
the riveting images, "Muddy Water Gumbo & High Tide
Blues," are on display at Harriet’s Alter Ego Boutique &
Gallery in Prospect Heights through June 30.
"The images on TV do not prepare you for going down there,"
Fawundu-Buford told GO Brooklyn. "There is endless destruction;
homes in the middle of the roads, homes at a 45 degree angle.
It was a war zone. But the most chilling thing was seeing people’s
belongings in the streets. That’s when you realize this happened
to everyday people like us."
The photographs focus on the city’s Ninth Ward, a black neighborhood
that was completely devastated. After Katrina, Fawundu-Buford
knew that some way, somehow she had to document what was happening,
she said. In the process, she found that the city’s spirit was
not completely broken.
"You could walk around the city and see people playing to
music," she said. "When I first saw the city I cried,
but then I was heartwarmed. Hopefully my photographs can at least
tell a story of the people who still have to deal with everything
still going on. And maybe that will help."
"Muddy Water Gumbo & High Tide Blues" is on display
through June 30 at Harriet’s Alter Ego Boutique & Gallery
at 293 Flatbush Ave. between St. Marks and Prospect Place in
Prospect Heights. For information, call (718) 783-2074 or visit
the Web site www.harrietsalterego.com.
NOLA IN NYC
