Little Tombs of Homes, of Lives

I saw this on "Blogging New Orleans". This is an art installation that was in New York and created by an artist from New Orleans, Jana Napoli. She came and toured the flooded neighborhoods after Katrina and found a common thread: drawers. Drawers from kitchens where family meals were prepared, drawers from tables where those meals were eaten, drawers from family heirlooms passed down the generations, drawers from cabinets, from desks, from vanities. She rummaged through the debris left by the side of those gutted homes and picked out drawers.

Those drawers form the 'Floodwall' installation. They are like little tombs as she says in the video on the website. She managed in some instances to contact the owners of some of the drawers and find out their experience of Katrina and her wrath. Those accounts are posted at the bottom of the installation.

I would love to see this exhibit but sadly its run has just ended in New York. You can visit the website and see a video about it here. I know there will be more and more exhibits about Katrina and her effect on the lives of the people of New Orleans. I hope people go, I hope people remember, I hope through their sadness they can remain angry enough to maintain the political pressure that will enable the willing to build a better gulf coast and a better defense and emergency system.