Up By Their Bootstraps
Hemisphere Magazine
Chris WrightUp By Their Bootstraps
An Art Show on the 10-year Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina Illustrates New Orleans' Comeback
It's a measure of how far New Orleans has come since Hurricane Katrina, perhaps, that one of the major events marking the 10-year anniversary this month makes very little mention of the actual storm. Instead, "REVERB: Past, Present, Future," at the Contemporary Arts Center, emphasizes what New Orleans has now, rather than what it lost then. Even the familiar tropes of physical regeneration and civic unity are largely absent from the works here. Messages of progress and hope, the organizers say, are conveyed simply by the quality of the work. The show is not, however, entirely devoid of context. The barnacle-covered boots in Casey Parkinson's instal- lation "Transcendence" (pictured) speak volumes about the ordeals this city has faced.