Last night as we were putting Tin to bed and going through our goodnight ritual, we looked at the photograph of my mom and where I normally say for Tin, “Goodnight Mimi,” instead I slipped and said “Goodnight mom.” Broke my heart.
Lisa decided not to be interviewed for the book, she said the tattoo said what she had to say about Katrina.
Vanessa and the candle still burning Vanessa Niemann Singer/Songwriter – Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue Vanessa had just moved out of the French Quarter to Metairie right before the storm and was looking forward to being in the ‘burbs, away from the bars.” Like everyone else, when the mandate came to evacuate, she and her boyfriend at the time left with the clothes on their backs and their cats. “We immediately hit stopped…
Todd and the origami rabbit Todd Windisch Contractor/Designer/Builder Todd’s tattoo of an origami bunny is in memoriam to his friend Jason Sweznic who died shortly after and because of the storm. “Jason was the second person I met when I moved to New Orleans. He was a bartender at Café Degas for forever,” Todd said. “And he was my friend.” Todd evacuated with his wife, Erin, and was in Atlanta only two weeks before coming…
Erin and hurricane tattoo Erin Eastern Green Market Manager Erin hails from a demographic group she believes was hit the hardest by Katrina – young, no longer dependent on parents albeit living month-to-month, with no insurance, and no savings. She and her roommate began an evacuation journey that started with following his family to Covington and then heading to Florida to her grandparents, where they sought shelter for the duration of the evacuation. “We had…
Dan and the art of flight Dan Tague Artist Dan was living in MidCity before the storm and decided not to evacuate. He holed up in his studio, where he did mix media, sculpture and photography, behind the Rock N Bowl instead. What started out as Dan and five others riding out the storm, quickly became a group of 16 people, 8 dogs, and 4 cats. “The rain and wind pounded on the doors when…
Dale and the iconic fleur de lys Dale Hrebik College English teacher Dale had just purchased a typical New Orleans shotgun double with a friend and was putting down official roots when Katrina hit. “I fell in love with New Orleans when I came down here from New York seven years ago,” he said. “I found out where I wanted to be and got my dream job here and bought a house and everything was…
Charles and the Garbage Truck route Charles Handler Industrial Organizational Psychologist Charles’ tattoo was not completely Katrina related although he said the event did bind together a lot of themes into one piece of artwork that now spans half of his chest and covers his entire arm like a sleeve. “The decision to cover my whole arm was a big decision and I knew the image should not be arbitrary,” he said. The tattoo is…
I was going to do this book that came up as an idea when I was speaking to my friend Anne at Bacchanal one day after Katrina. It was to do a coffee table book of people who had gotten tattoos to commemorate Katrina. The book did not happen even though it was well intended and I even thought Taschen would be the ideal publisher. Here was the genesis for the book. Start wtih Anne and…
I think I’d like to write a photo book – the coffee table kind. I was going to do one about people who got tattoo’s because of Katrina, but now I think I want to do one on the dogs of Buffa’s. Everytime we go to Buffa’s it’s a new dog there. Last night it was Linda. We sat at a table to split a burger and Linda sat at the table next to us…