Thursday, September 7, 2017

Living Below Sea Level: a Retrospective


I made this book right after Hurricane Katrina.  I grew up below sea level in New Orleans, and water was our element.  This watery time seems right to ponder the implications and adaptations of living below sea level.


I can remember going to sleep to the distant sound of a pumping station after a rainy day.

I wasn't living in the city during Katrina, but my first of several hurricanes occured when I was five years old.  My Dad carried me down the street to the big church on Esplanade, later took me outside to see a patch of blue sky that he told me was the eye of the hurricane.

Graves in the neighborhood cemetery were above ground.

From certain streets in the French Quarter we could see ships passing on the river at second story level.

In the dark ground-floor basement of our raised creole cottage was a drain through which water rose frequently and ominously.  Crawfish holes rose their clayey collars in our side yard.



From the ferry the city looked dwarfed by ships.

I loved watching clamshell-laden barges slipping past my bedroom window during naptime when we lived briefly in Lakeview near a canal that has since been filled in.

Mediums used:  water-soluble crayons, absorbent ground, pen,  paper plate lithography, watercolor,  diluted fluid acrylic base on Arches cover wove paper;  with cover image of mica, encrusted sand, and digital output.

6 comments:

  1. i'd like to hold and read this book. also, hear your stories...

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    1. I would love to be able to send you a copy. Maybe I'll make digital copies someday.

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  2. Just beautiful. Thank you for sharing it, along with your own reflections.

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  3. Thank you for sharing your book, Gwen. The topic is something I've been thinking a lot about also.

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