As New Orleans enters its fourth century, the city’s relationship with water is as tenuous as ever. On Tuesday, August 28, THNOC will feature screenings of three short films and a dialogue with artists who created work in response to significant flooding events in the 21st century. “Waterlogged: Artists’ Views of Their Flooded City” is a program of Art of the City: Postmodern to Post-Katrina, presented by The Helis Foundation.

Artist Jana Napoli created Floodwall, a sculpture assembled from 700 drawers collected from homes destroyed by post-Katrina floodwaters. The piece traveled across the country and to Germany and Poland, but after a few years, Napoli made the decision to cremate the work in a bonfire on the Algiers landing in 2011. Polish filmmakers Bartek and Piotr Bartos documented Floodwall’s final days in their film Floating on Fire, which will be shown following a short introductory film.

Station 15 follows high-schooler Chasity Hunter as she embarks on a mission to understand New Orleans’s water management system in the wake of the August 2017 floods. Directed by Kira Akerman, the film takes a hard look at the city’s infrastructure and the problems that our environment presents in the future.

Napoli, Hunter, and Akerman will participate in a dialogue following the screenings.

About the participants
Kira Akerman has produced music videos, commercials, and short films, and her work has appeared at film festivals in New Orleans and all over the world. She is currently an artist-in-residence with Ripple Effect, an organization that educates youth on water literacy.

Chasity Hunter graduated from Bard Early College in New Orleans, is currently enrolled in UNO, and is a member of a poetry group with the African American women’s nonprofit Women with a Vision. Check out our spotlight profile on her.

Jana Napoli is the founder of the internationally acclaimed arts organization YA/YA Inc. and has exhibited both nationally and internationally. She has received several awards for her work, including a President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities award (1999). 

Registration information
Admission is free. Pre-registration for this event is now full; however, walk-up tickets will be made available on a first come, first served basis. Reservations will be held until five minutes prior to the start of the event (5:55 p.m.), at which point any unclaimed seats will be released to the public. For questions about this program, email events@hnoc.org or call (504) 598-7146.