I Am So Popular: Break Up Camp For Big Girls
Austin Woman’s Club, "Historic Downtown Austin Assets" Among Preservation Texas' Most Endangered Places 2010
Giveaway: Justin Townes Earle @ Stubb's
![_Heat Things Up With <em>Desire</em> at the Blanton [Art Preview]](http://austinist.com/assets_c/2010/02/minter-thumb-110x110-478584.jpg)
Heat Things Up With Desire at the Blanton [Art Preview]
Excellent Show Alert: Bowerbirds & Julie Doiron at Mohawk
Though January 10, 2009
Super! Alright! (310 Chicon)
Exhibition may be viewed Wednesdays 7-9pm, Saturdays 1-5pm, and by appointment
[info]
To help us understand the magnitude of the disaster, Super! Alright! Creative Studio brings Way Down in New Orleans to Austin. The traveling exhibition, curated by Aubrey Edwards, includes dozens of artists with personal ties to New Orleans. They have come together to illuminate the harsh realities of Katrina’s aftermath, finding hope and possibility in the bravery it takes to acknowledge and heal the hopelessness that descended upon the city in this hour of unprecedented abandonment.
Dred Scott’s installation, Never Forget, Never Forgive, bares Post-K brutality by showing the faces of parents, children, young people and elderly who died neglected and forcibly separated from their loved ones. Some of the victims portrayed in the piece were gunned down by police while “looting” food.
Marlowe Parker’s visceral painting, Untitled, comes to life as two sisters struggle to inch into a helicopter from a rooftop scrawled with letters that call ‘Help Us’ as the water rises around them. Looking at this image reminds us that New Orleans is a city still in recovery with a long way to go towards being a city renewed. Parker’s depiction of this moment has a captured a struggle that will never end, and it drives home the understanding that rebuilding on this scale is a lifelong process.
Surprisingly, Way Down In New Orleans is ultimately hopeful. Its proceeds benefit the New Orleans Kid Camera Project, which helps children from flooded neighborhoods process their experiences and their return home. Six untitled prints from the group are featured in the exhibit and show how beautifully the kids in this program express themselves. The images remind us how vast the capabilities or art really are, and once again, how vital creative expression is to rebirth.
The work Neighborhood Story Project, Seventh Ward Speaks: Creativity and Activism in Our Neighborhood, lets longtime New Orleans residents speak in their own words, transporting the reader to the neighborhoods they call home. It is a celebration of community, history, and above all, the irrepressible spirit of New Orleans.
Way Down in New Orleans allows you to feel the pulse of a city whose rhythms coalesce into a song that sounds like no other in America. It is a dance that goes right to your core, and there are no wrong steps, as long as you keep listening.
Way Down in New Orleans runs through January 10th and can be viewed Wednesday from 7-9pm and Saturdays from 1-5pm at the Super! Alright! Creative Studio.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
Thanks for this! There is still much to be aware of all the issues that we face here in New Orleans. Our own papers have been reporting about how in 100 years we will be nothing more than an island if we don't get funding now and take bold actions.