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The day hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, photographer Jennifer Shaw was giving birth to her son in Alabama, where she and her husband had taken refuge after evacuating the city. Two months later, she returned to the devastation in NoLa. In the photography project Hurricane Story, she staged scenes from her experience using plastic toys and took pictures with plastic cameras. The collection is available in a book, and some of the prints are for sale. See a selection of them at Soulcatcher Studio. Link -via Nag on the Lake
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San Fermin in Nueva Orleans is a festival that begins today and runs through Sunday. It is a homage to the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain, which is also happening this week. If you can’t make it to Spain, you can run with the “bulls” this Saturday in New Orleans!
The event will replicate and pay homage to the world famous Encierro of Pamplona, Spain, aka The Running of the Bulls, only our bulls are members of New Orleans’ all-female flat-track derby team the Big Easy Rollergirls and select participants from other rollerderby leagues across the country!
Oh, and there will be a special appearance by a group of Elvises on wheels as well! Link -Thanks, John Brauner!
(Image source: Facebook)
Photo: Jambot [Flickr] Yes it’s blurry, but I believe alcohol was
involved in these sort of events.
Last Sunday, the Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus – thereafter referred to as the best krewe EVAR – made its debut in New Orleans. Here’s how they described themselves:
The Krewe of Chewbacchus is a Carnival Krewe for the most revelrous of Star Wars Freaks, Trekkies, Whovians, Mega-Geeks, Circuit Benders, Cryptozooligists, UFO Conspiracy Theorists, Mad Scientists, and all the rest of Super Nerdom.
We are Bacchanalian Revelry + Sci Fi = BacchanALIENS.
[...] The Chewbacchus parade includes a fleet of UFlambOs, a Bar2D2 float pulled by an X-Wing Fighter bicycle, giant BacchanALIEN and Robot puppets, a 20 ft long Quetzalcoatl Space Dragon, and much much more…
The Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus group pool over at Flickr – via Geektress
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Street artist Banksy visited New Orleans in 2008, decorating various buildings with his distinctive paintings. He encountered an enemy who became known as the Gray Ghost.
Fred Radtke made it his mission to erase every bit of graffiti in the city long before Banksy’s arrival, sweeping down the street with his paint roller in hand. The anti-street-art crusader passed quietly through each neighborhood, obliterating all traces of spray paint with his own signature splotches of gray – hence his nickname. Some locals celebrated his dedication to keeping New Orleans clean, while others decried his assault against free expression.
The Gray Ghost upset some property owners because an original Banksy work increases the value of a building considerably. Banksy responded by incorporating the Gray Ghost in some of his works. The battle with the Gray Ghost eventually came to an end in court, but today only one original Banksy image remains in New Orleans. Link -via Rue the Day
This cake was spotted at Breaux Mart in New Orleans by Flickr user skooksie. Link -via Buzzfeed
This summer, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began construction on a barrier and pumping station designed to protect New Orleans from flooding. The pump will be capable of moving 150,000 gallons per second:
The $500-million station—the newest installment of a $14-billion federal project to fortify the Big Easy against the type of fierce storm the city sees once in 100 years—will protect the 240,000 residents living in New Orleans, a high-risk flood area because of its nearby shipping canals. The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway is one of the city’s most trafficked industrial waterways, but it provides a perfect path from the Gulf for a 16-foot storm surge to flood homes and businesses. When a major storm threatens, the waterway’s new West Closure Complex will mount a two-point defense. First, operators will shut the 32-foot-tall, 225-foot-wide metal gates to block the surge. Then they’ll fire up the world’s largest pumping station, which pulls 150,000 gallons of floodwater per second. And unlike the city’s notorious levees, the WCC won’t break when residents need it most. “This station is designed to withstand almost everything,” including 140mph winds and runaway barges, says Tim Connell, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’s project manager for the complex.
While celebrating Mardi Gras last week, a few National Geographic staffers stumbled upon a woman costumed as… a National Geographic Photographer. She was shooting an art project called "Irrational Geographic," taking portraits of the "wild life" with the iconic yellow border as a prop. We loved it so much we featured it on our blog.
"Shouldn’t everyone be on the cover of National Geographic Magazine?" she wondered.
It was a perfect Mardi Gras day outfit… and everyone wants to be on the cover of the magazine so interactivity is high! Indeed, when I asked a man if he wanted to pose like he was on the cover of National Geographic, his response was, “Since I was, like, two.”
(image credit: Flickr user castorpollux)
From the Upcoming 
ueue, submitted by janelle.
KK Projects re-imagines buildings in New Orleans that were ravaged by Katrina and turns them into site-specific works of art.
"This video tours several of the sites and checks in with founder Kirsha Kaechele to learn about her experiences integrating art into one of the toughest ghettos of the city and what it’s like to actually live in a gallery."
– via coolhunting
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by whitespace.
