Bruce West, Todd Bertolaet, David Wharton, Katrina, One Year Later: Three Perspectives; Southern Spaces

Two summers ago, my friend and colleague, David Wharton, Director of Documentary Studies at the University of Mississippi's Center for the Study of Southern Culture, asked me to participate in a photographic project documenting the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, exactly one year after Hurricane Katrina had touched down. The Katrina, One Year Later project would feature the work of David Wharton, Todd Bertolaet from Florida A&M University, and me. My immediate and enthusiastic response to David's invitation was motivated by my own curiosity (what would the coast look like one year later, how much work had been accomplished by various government agencies, was it really as bad as portrayed by the media, etc.), and my desire as an artist to somehow acknowledge and perhaps contribute in a positive manner to healing the loss and suffering that this great catastrophe entailed. Since I had been photographing in the state of Mississippi for over twelve years (mostly in the Delta and surrounding regions), I felt a special obligation to give something back in exchange for the many gifts of beauty and insight bestowed upon me over the years. Since I have largely photographed in a solitary fashion for many years, I was also intrigued by the creative and synergistic possibilities of working on a collaborative project with other photographers.

Before commencing this project, I did have one reservation: the fear of exploiting the suffering of others — a concern that was shared by both of my colleagues. The influx of so many photographers to the Gulf Coast and New Orleans immediately after Hurricane Katrina seemed callous and opportunistic to me. Photographing one year later, however, avoided such problems by placing our work in a somewhat historical context.

While I was obviously aware of the plethora of media accounts and images of Katrina's devastation, I was still amazed and overwhelmed when I actually saw the Gulf Coast. Collapsed buildings, empty foundations, and personal effects scattered throughout the landscape stood as silent testimony to the destruction. Several of my photographs (Destroyed Aquarium, Collapsed Building between Gulfport and Biloxi, and Destroyed Condominiums) reflect this awestruck appreciation of nature's power. Some of my other images, however, grow out of an attempt to relate to this tragedy on a more personal and intimate level, to show how Katrina touched the lives of specific yet unknown individuals. Photographs such as Church Interior, Interior of Firehouse Saloon, and Last Objects, Left on Porch of Evacuated House address particular issues of loss—the loss of a place to worship and pray; the loss of a place to socialize, drink, and have fun; the loss of personal possessions, including family snapshots.

In his essay, Photographing Evil, noted photographer and theorist Robert Adams argues against the possibility of photography, or any other type of art, addressing the presence of evil in human experience. According to Adams, the artist's concern for beauty and form always subverts the depiction of evil. While I largely agree, my experience of participating in the Katrina, One Year Later project clearly demonstrates to me that the artist's inevitable pursuit of the aesthetic also provides hope for others by maintaining the possibility for future transformation and transcendence.

Bruce West is a Professor in the Department of Art and Design at Missouri State University. He has received a number of awards for his photographic work including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Ford Foundation for the Arts, and the Polaroid Corporation. His photographs are included in numerous public and corporate collections such as The Library of Congress, Saint Louis Art Museum, The Houston Museum of Fine Arts, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Museum Ludwig, and the Paine Webber Corporation. Recent exhibitions include Acts of Faith at The Noorderlicht Photofestival in Groningen, The Netherlands; Contemporary American Photography at the Internationale Fototage in Mannheim, Germany; and Recent Acquisitions in Photography at The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art. West was a featured speaker at the Midwest Conference of the Society for Photographic Education in 1994, the Delta Blues Conference sponsored by Arkansas State University in 2001, and the National Conference of the Society for Photographic Education in 2003. Recent publications include "Delta Blues" in the August 2005 issue of Foto Magazin, The Next Generation: Contemporary Expressions of Faith (William B. Eerdmans Publishing), and Internationale Fototage 7 (Edition Panorama). His series of photographs, Spiritual Advisor to the World, will be exhibited at the Smithsonian's Anacostia Museum in 2008.