In the intervening years since Hurricane Katrina, the idea of floods and being underwater has never been far from the minds of the residents of New Orleans. As we face what may be the worse year yet for climate change (2023) its even more in our thoughts. As I create this series, we've had massive atmospheric rivers rolling through California and creating flooding that is turning central California into a lake. We've had a dust storm in Illinois that killed many when 80 vehicles collided in the dusty murk. We've had (at the same time) a snowstorm in Wisconsin and Michigan in May. And we've had two tornadoes in places that rarely if ever see them, one on the East Coast in Virginia Beach and the other in on the West Coast in Los Angeles.
These are not normal occurrences. And they are not the last of them. Every year the weather takes another leap towards the collapse of our climate and all we do is throw up our hands and say "its just a bad year". Its not!
I've faced quite a bit of flack for this series so far (only a few pieces have been finished). New Orleans residents claim I'm being insensitive to their pain from Katrina and later from Ida. I've been accused of taking advantage of them and being arrogant and self righteous. It does not seem to matter that I've also lived through these storms. But I feel that its only a matter of time where the surreal images of this series become reality. And it is only by constant reminder of what may be that we will stop this future from happening. Sadly it may already be too late.
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