(BTC) When Worlds Collide

BTC Stands for "Behind the Curtain". Its a look at work created by various artists, photographers and creators around the world. 

Its a small peak behind the curtain as to how the piece was created and the conceptual ideas behind it. 

All art comes with a story. 

One of the unusual aspects of Hurricane Katrina was that in the immediate days and weeks following the storm, most of the gates, doors and barricades which previously had locked the world out of places they were not supposed to go, were now gone. Some had been blown away in the storm, others washed away, and some removed when the National Guard moved through the city looking for victims.

For a photographer, this was a unique chance to get into places in the city that you were otherwise barred from. A lot of my original photo work was in exploration of some of these places. 

The cemetery in the above finished piece of art is called St Louis #1. It is the supposed location of the grave of the infamous voodoo queen Marie Laveau. In normal times the cemetery was locked at dusk only allowing visitors within it during the daylight hours. 

Now you cannot even get in without paying an admission fee of $20.00 to the Diocese. This is a whole other issue that infuriates most of locals, but I won't go into it here. 

But during the post-storm time, the cemetery lay open and abandoned. The particular image above was taken in the middle of the night.. This was not immediately after the storm but perhaps a month or so after. The lights were back on by that time, but a lot of places remained open and abandoned after, some as much as a year to 18 months after the actual storm. 

Sadly you cannot get in there in the middle of the night anymore but a few precious photos show the eerie quality of a city of the dead at night. There is something about a cemetery that sits on the edge of a living city that has always fascinated me. In Washington DC there is a huge cemetery that sits atop a high hill that overlooks the city. I've always wished I could get into that one at night and photograph. Unlike Arlington National Cemetery, this place is closer to the city center and you get the same kind of effect of city of the dead and city of the living existing side by side. 

This art will become part of the Walking in the City of the Dead series. You can see the original image below.