White Goods Only

That's the name of the show New Orleans artist (and long time friend) Kathleen Banton is currently exhibiting at Jonathan Ferrara Gallery. On enlarging the thumbnails, the telling titles appear... not to be missed. The artist's statement is at the bottom of the page but I hope you'll also read the Press Release which helps to understand the situation a bit more personally. Knowing the anguish, heartache and hardship she and so many others have suffered, I can't imagine how she was able to pull this show together... except as an artist, it probably kept her sane through it all.

We left NOLA in 2001 after fifteen years in residence just upriver. That's longer than we've lived in any one place at any time in our lives. So it is more our home town than any other, even the ones we grew up in. Needless to say, our heart goes out to all our friends who have felt the wrath of Katrina. Our son and his family are still in the area but, fortunately, they are on fairly high ground (relatively speaking) just blocks from the Mississippi River levee. So a new roof took care of his wind damage. But some, like Kathleen, lived in the popular and prosperous Lakeview area which took quite a bit of water. Their stories are sometimes best told through art exhibitions like this one.