In Katrina's Wake :
Portraits of Loss from an Unnatural Disaster
Chris Jordan , Bill McKibben , Susan Zakin

While many may argue whether the devastation of hurricane Katrina was the direct or indirect result of global warming, infrastructural neglect, inadequate preparation, or an incompetent governmental response, nobody will deny the heartbreak it wrought, the homes, businesses, and history washed away, the landscape uprooted, or the lives lost.

Renowned photographer Chris Jordan went on assignment—his own—to capture the tragedy of the aftermath of this, the greatest natural disaster in the history of the United States. In Katrina's Wake, his series of 50 photographs, layer, the horror of ruin with the uncanny beauty of nature, even in its most savage incarnation. His images show how the remnants of a place—from Mardi Gras beads to church pews, from computer stations to swing sets—recall the essence of a place.

Essays by Bill McKibben, Elizabeth Royte, and Susan Zakin explore the causes and effects of global warming, noting that we are all responsible for the future of our planet.


Chris Jordan is a photographer in Seattle, Washington.
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Editorial Reviews

Republic:
"Like many other photographers, Chris Jordan took his camera to devastated New Orleans, a situation requiring particular tact. Rather than photograph people there, Jordan let their possessions evoke their misfortune. . . . Bill McKibben likens Jordan's pictures to crime scene photos and condemns past and present federal authorities for ignoring the science of climate change, which portends more Katrinas. Agree or not, the power of Jordan's images will make itself felt." (Dec. 10, 2006)

American Photo:
"Jordan's images of Hurricane Katrina's destruction are paradoxically beautiful . . . Saturated in color and focused in content, these pictures humanize the storm's massive tragedy, lending individual stories a sense of poignancy and scale." (Feb - Mar 2007)

Booklist:
"With a keen eye for contrast and color, Jordan can't help but discern and capture a catastrophic beauty in scenes of devastation, bizarre juxtapositions . . . and the unexpectedly compelling patterns etched, smeared, and bashed into myriad surfaces natural and human-made by violently churning waters and blasting winds. Jordan's poetic images are accompanied by clarion essays by environmental writers Bill McKibben and Susan Zakin, making this an execeptionally artistic and thought-provoking response to a never-to-be-forgotten calamity." (Sept. 15, 2006)

Tucson Citizen:
"Many of the images are nothing less than a visual punch to the gut. (Jordan's) photography graphically reflects how remnants can recall the essence of a place. . . . The essays by McKibben and Zakin explore the causes of consmerism and global warming, underscoring the fact that we are all responsible for the future of our planet. Even though some may not agree with their conclusions, no one can deny the degree of this tragedy or how it has helped define our government and its people." (11/02/06)

Revista Adelante:
"Vividly captures the tragedy of the aftermath of the greatest natural disaster in the history of the United States. In Katrina's Wake, Jordan's series of 50 photographs layer the horror of ruin with the uncanny beauty of nature, even in its most savage incarnation." (November 2006)

New York Times Syle Magazine:
"In In Katrina's Wake we witness the devastation in lavish detail, and the poetic fascination is eclipsed by alarm and a sickening awareness of the damage's relentless extent. . . . Picture after picture, the evidence accumulates, and the effect is inevitably political." (Fall 2006)

Santa Fe New Mexican:
"In Katrina's Wake is filled with photographs of the hurricane's victims' belongings strewn across the landscape of New Orleans. Some of its images of destruction, of houses turned inside out, show how much stuff we all have. Others just demonstrate the things an artist sees in a wasteland. . . . His empathy for the people affected by the disaster is matched by an awareness of its possible cause." (Nov. 3, 2006)

Arizona Daily Star:
"Zakin, an outspoken Tucson environmental writer, follows the hurricane's impact on specific individuals. Her essay accompanies a stunning collection of photographs by Chris Jordan." (10/01/06)

Los Angeles Times:
"Unlike most post-Katrina photography, Jordan's has no people in it. Instead, it evokes the eerie calm of an Antonioni film: a cast-off purse hanging from a tree branch, an old-time radio partly buried in a canal, the rusted interior of a church piano." (August 27, 2006)

The Stranger:
"The New Orleans photographs by Seattle's Chris Jordan are like a compilation of evidential facts. They're detailed and close-up, and, judging by the essays in the book, intended as stern warnings for the future. They are also poetic and formal. A phone book spread open on a bed of dried, cracked mud is photographed so lovingly that you still can read the information that all at once became obsolete." (09/14/06)

San Francisco Chronicle:
"Rather than photograph people, Jordan let their possessions evoke their misfortune. A stack of ruined mattresses stands in for recovered corpses. A nearly dissolved red dress hints that its owner, or the life she lived, has washed away. Bill McKibben likens Jordan's pictures to crime scene photos and condemns past and present federal authorities for ignoring the science of climate change, which portends more Katrinas. Agree or not, the power of Jordan's images will make itself felt. " (11/19/06)

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