Debra Howell's surreal photographs focus on our turbulent relationship with nature expressed in dreamlike images that convey our experience with climate change as a watery apocalypse. Acipenser, above, is emblematic, a flood-ravaged home where salvaged objects are ritualistically arranged on a muddy floor. The view through the window reveals a distant river bank studded with industrial relics, as well as a water line below which a sturgeon (genus: Acipenser) is faintly visible in the murk beyond the window panes. Beyond postdeluvian Creole cottage interiors, others include antique stereoscopes stranded on mud flats in Stereoscope 2: Yangtze, above left, with glowing dual images of idyllic landscapes. Water and dreams are united in their fluidity, and Howell invokes notions of home and vintage technology to frame broader questions about how we adapt, or not, to a natural world that seems be losing patience with us. ~Bookhardt / Through Darkness to Light: Photographs by Jeanine Michna-Bales, Through March 19, New Orleans Photo Alliance, 1111 St. Mary Street, 513-8030; Adaptations: Photographs by Debra Howell, Through Feb. 24, LeMieux Galleries, 332 Julia St., 522.5988.
Sunday, February 12, 2017
Jeanine Michna-Bales at New Orleans Photo Alliance; Debra Howell at LeMieux
Debra Howell's surreal photographs focus on our turbulent relationship with nature expressed in dreamlike images that convey our experience with climate change as a watery apocalypse. Acipenser, above, is emblematic, a flood-ravaged home where salvaged objects are ritualistically arranged on a muddy floor. The view through the window reveals a distant river bank studded with industrial relics, as well as a water line below which a sturgeon (genus: Acipenser) is faintly visible in the murk beyond the window panes. Beyond postdeluvian Creole cottage interiors, others include antique stereoscopes stranded on mud flats in Stereoscope 2: Yangtze, above left, with glowing dual images of idyllic landscapes. Water and dreams are united in their fluidity, and Howell invokes notions of home and vintage technology to frame broader questions about how we adapt, or not, to a natural world that seems be losing patience with us. ~Bookhardt / Through Darkness to Light: Photographs by Jeanine Michna-Bales, Through March 19, New Orleans Photo Alliance, 1111 St. Mary Street, 513-8030; Adaptations: Photographs by Debra Howell, Through Feb. 24, LeMieux Galleries, 332 Julia St., 522.5988.