Presentation
"A Matter of Faith"- rebuilding a community through faith based institutions
In 2005 I first photographed the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans arriving 30 days after the storm passed and while the city was still officially closed. I photographed 41 houses of worship/churches in the Lower 9th ward. My end goal was to rephotograph these locations after they had rebuilt. In the first year I photographed the ruined churches and kept detailed records of locations and information on the congregations. Sadly, many of these sites were also demolished or remain gutted, waiting rebuilding. Over time I have revisited many of the sites, and in some cases documented the rebuilding efforts. I began this project thinking it was about documenting the rebuilding efforts as an architectural project but I started meeting with pastors, deacons and parishioners and shifted to include portrait of them as well as recording their stories of the storm and rebuilding efforts. This presentation documents this 19 year effort.
Stan Strembicki
Stan Strembicki was born in Providence, R.I. in 1952. He attended the University of Rhode Island where he received his BFA in studio art. In 1975 he moved to Southern California where he attended the California Institute of the Arts and received his MFA in Photography in 1977. He is currently a Professor emeritus of Art at the School of Art where he taught classes on the undergraduate and graduate level in photography for 36 years. He has served as Director of Graduate Studies and Assistant Dean of Students in the School of Art and was the area coordinator of the photography program in the College of Art.
His work is exhibited widely in the USA and Europe, and is part of major collections and museums in the Midwest and southern United States and on all seven continents.
Gallery
