Elysium

This work is an examination of the urban forest of New Orleans, forever altered by a 70% canopy loss at the hands of Katrina in 2005, that has since suffered unbelievable indignities at the hands of man. We have a strange relationship with nature as urban dwellers. And we seemingly hold a cultural belief that if it is an Eden we planted, we have eminent domain over the territory it occupies. While sometimes their deformities can be perceived as comical, the impact of this loss will be faced by New Orleans residents returning home for years to come. Absent street signs, and often the houses themselves, these trees are frequently the only signifiers to tell me that I’ve returned to a site to photograph. Imagine if the tree was not a marker for a photograph, but a marker for your home.