Photographs by the Open Society Foundations’ Katrina Media Fellows

The aftermath of the 2005 hurricanes Katrina and Rita underscored persistent problems of poverty, racism, and government neglect plaguing the United States. Yet, mere months after the destruction of New Orleans, Louisiana, and other parts of the Gulf Coast, the public’s attention had, for the most part, shifted elsewhere. In early 2006, the Open Society Foundations created a fellowship competition to support in-depth media projects as a means of stimulating and sustaining a national conversation concerning the critical issues laid bare by the hurricanes.

Katrina Media Fellowships supported more than 50 fellows working on 31 print, radio, photography, and film projects. Some fellows pursued individual projects, while others worked collaboratively. Many projects focused on historically neglected groups—African Americans, Native Americans, first and second generation immigrants, incarcerated people, low-income and rural communities. The projects exposed problems caused or illuminated by the storms—government inefficiency and neglect, misuse of public funds, the role of private contractors, and ineffective clean-up and rebuilding efforts. By exploring these issues, the fellows worked to expand and deepen the public’s understanding of race and class inequity in the United States, and inform the handling of future natural and man-made disasters.

The images presented here are only a small selection of the photography fellows’ work. Some images, such as those by Frank Stewart and Michael Williamson, document the surreal nature of the altered physical landscape in the days and months immediately following the storms. Photographs by Stanley Greene and Gerald Cyrus of still-damaged schools and neighborhoods taken a year or two after the storms attest to the shockingly slow pace of rebuilding and the urgent need to keep national attention focused on the Gulf Coast. As Shawn Walker’s photograph shows, by placing graffiti, handmade signs, and impromptu memorials on buildings and in the streets, residents have used the public sphere to express their frustration with the government’s response

The personal toll of government neglect, displacement, and increased urban violence is documented in photographs, by Joseph Rodriguez and Kadir van Lohuizen, in which residents confront an overwhelming number of obstacles in their attempt to return to and rebuild their communities. Photographs by Salimah Ali, Debbie Fleming Caffery, Keith Calhoun, Collette Fournier, Russell K. Frederick, Wayne Lawrence, Chandra McCormick, John Pinderhughes, and Radcliffe Roye offer profiles of residents living and working in the post-Katrina and Rita landscape. These images place residents within the context of their hurricane-damaged environments, whether in Biloxi, Mississippi, Mobile, Alabama, or New Orleans and Pointe à la Hache, Louisiana. Yet rather than depict residents as singularly defined or overwhelmed by their experiences, these photographers capture the dignity and determination of residents as they attempt to reclaim their homes and lives.

As problems with housing, employment, health care, and public education threaten residents’ ability to maintain their communities, culture and religion gain a heightened sense of importance, as both provide opportunities for community building and healing. Photographs by Clarence Williams, for example, convey the persistence of cultural traditions and religious practices, even in the face of disaster.

As a whole, the photographs taken by the Katrina Media Fellows shed light on the devastation’s ongoing legacy and its impact on the daily lives of Gulf Coast residents. Moreover, the issues the photographs raise attest to the ongoing need for continued media coverage documenting the injustices faced by residents of the Gulf Coast.

—February 2008