SVA Spearheads Project to Preserve New Orleans
By Jessica Gordon
When Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans in 2005, not only lives were lost,
but the memories of a great city that had been home to so many were tarnished.
To help local residents and the public restore their memories, the School of
Visual Arts will launch a collaborative, community Web site designed to help
the public better understand what life was like in New Orleans before the Hurricane
Katrina disaster.
Do You Know What it Means? (www.doyouknowwhatitmeans.org) will interactively
collect the untold stories of the people of New Orleans by chronicling and preserving
them. The public digital archive will have photographs, videos, family histories,
interviews and other artifacts.
“Two years later, New Orleans is still in terrible shape as a city,”
says Charles Traub, chair of SVA's MFA Photography, Video and Related Media
Department, and a manager of the project. “People can show was it was
like at their church, their high school prom in 1990 or what the front porch
of a house on an ordinary street looked like. It’s a living history site
that will hopefully preserve the memories of the people.”
Conceived by members of the staff, alumni and chair of the MFA photography,
video and related media departments at SVA, the project is loosely modeled after
“Here is New York: A Democracy of Photographs,” an exhibit of photographs
taken during and around the World Trade Center tragedy.
SVA has teamed up with a number of organizations, including George Mason University
Center for Visual history (a conduit to the library of congress) and the Historic
New Orleans Collection to make the site a permanent record. The Carnegie Corporation
also donated the seed money for the project.
“It’s really a Democratic enterprise and a voluntary effort by
anyone who wants to participate,” says Traub, who adds staff will assist
any technology-challenged would-be participants upload images or information.
“We hope people will look at [the site] and continue to add to it for
the people of New Orleans.”
A reception and demonstration to launch the Web site and archive will take
place Friday, May 18th. Walter Williams, New Orleans resident, activist and
creator of Saturday Night Live’s Play-Doh Character, screening his film
and performing. For more information on the project, visit www.doyouknowwhatitmeans.org
Event:
Friday, May 18, 7 p.m.
Amphitheater
209 East 23rd St., 3rd Floor
Admission: $7
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