As the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's destructive effect on New Orleans approaches, photography continues to be a defining force in the understanding of what's wrong with disaster response and relief. In Dave Anderson's documentation, it also defines what's right - in the case of a tightly knit neighborhood that resembles a small southern town nested in the outskirts of the big city.

Left to right: Flood Street View; Gregory on Ladder; Blue Room. Copyright Dave Anderson, courtesy CLAMPART Gallery.

Photographs in One Block (Aperture 2010), which includes an essay by Chris Rose, a longtime columnist for the New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper, portray the power of community as residents of a single block attempt, with limited resources, to rebuild their homes. Using portraiture, still life, and abstract images, Anderson documents the evolution of both the street and its houses as residents literally rebuild their lives, exploring the very nature of community while testing its resilience.

Tonight Anderson will present his work through a conversation with photo editor Paul Moakley at the Aperture Gallery. A series of exhibitions and events begins this Thursday with an opening at CLAMPART Gallery. For information about the block party in New Orleans on August 26th, and exhibitions and book signings in New Orleans and San Francisco, please visit the website.

Tuesday, July 13, 6:30 pm: Artist talk/booksigning with Dave Anderson and Paul Moakley at Aperture Gallery. 47 West 27^th Street, 4^th Floor. New York, NY. 212.505.5555.
Thursday, July 15, 6:00 pm: Opening reception at CLAMPART Gallery. 521-531 West 25^th Street, Ground Floor, New York, NY. 646.230.0020.

About the Photographer and Author:
Dave Anderson has been recognized as "one of the shooting stars of the American photo scene" by Germany's fotoMAGAZIN and named a "Rising Star" by Photo District News. A multi-talented image-maker, Dave worked in the Clinton White House and at MTV before discovering photography. His acclaimed first project, "Rough Beauty" was the winner of the 2005 National Project Competition awarded by Center, Santa Fe and was published with an essay by Anne Wilkes Tucker. Anderson's work has been featured in magazines from Esquire to Stern and can be found in the collections of prominent museums, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans; the Musee de la Photographie, Charleroi; and the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. As a filmmaker, Dave's original video series, "SoLost," shot for The Oxford American, was recently named a finalist at the 2010 National Magazine Awards.
Chris Rose is an acclaimed New Orleans columnist, whose harrowing and poignant essays following Katrina were collected in his widely lauded book 1 Dead in Attic (2005). Called the "Crescent City's Bard" by the Huffington Post, Rose is an essayist for the Newshour with Jim Lehrer, a frequent commentator for National Public Radio's Morning Edition, and a longtime columnist for the Times-Picayune, where he was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Rose currently writes for the Gambit weekly newspaper and appears regularly on Fox 8 New Orleans.

Correction: Apologies to Tom Wool, author of last Friday's post from Arles, and for misspelling Les Rencontres. PR

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