Hurricane Story
By Jennifer Shaw
July 10 - August 14
|
Hurricane Story is a depiction of New Orleans photographer, Jennifer Shaw's family's evacuation experience during Hurricane Katrina- the birth, the travels and the return. These photographs represent various elements of their ordeal. The project began as a cathartic way to process some of the lingering anger and anxiety over that bittersweet journey. It grew into a narrative series of self-portraits in toys that illustrates Shaw's experiences and emotional state during her time in exile. The exhibition will feature select photographs from the series, as well as the resulting graphic novel which illustrates, through 46 photographs, the strange true tale of her family's evacuation adventures, including the dramatic birth of their first child on the day Katrina hit. Jennifer Shaw is a fine art photographer who lives and works in New Orleans, Louisiana. She started taking pictures at the age of eight and enrolled in her first darkroom course when she was fifteen. From that point forward she immersed herself in the medium, and went on to study it at the Rhode Island School of Design, earning a BFA in Photography in 1994. Curiosity led her to New Orleans, where she has been pursuing her art ever since. She currently teaches photography part time at the Louise S. McGehee School and works as a freelance photographer, with a concentration on her personal work and custom portraiture. Jennifer's photographs have been featured in B&W Magazine, Shots, Light Leaks Magazine and The Sun. Her work has been exhibited internationally, and is held in both private and public collections, including the Huntsville Museum of Art, the New Orleans Museum of Art and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. Jennifer Shaw grew up in Milwaukee, studied photography at RISD, and then moved to New Orleans in pursuit of the artist's life. She teaches the disappearing art of darkroom photography at the Louise S. McGehee School and works as a freelance photographer, with a concentration on her personal work and custom portraiture. She is a founding board member of the New Orleans Photo Alliance, and chairs their annual PhotoNOLA festival, in addition to chasing after two young sons. Jennifer's photographs have been featured in B&W Magazine, Shots, Light Leaks Magazine, The Oxford American and The Sun. Her work has been exhibited internationally, and is held in both private and public collections, including the Huntsville Museum of Art, the New Orleans Museum of Art and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. |