Fine art photographer Stanley Strembicki has been held in thrall by the city of New Orleans for 30 years, capturing its celebrations and cemeteries. So when Hurricane Katrina hit the city, Strembicki, who is also professor of art in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, was moved to offer his artistic perspective on the aftermath.
For three years, he returned monthly to the washed-out ruins of once-thriving communities. There, he documented the now-water-damaged photographs its former residents were forced to abandon. His Lost Memory series collects scenes of everyday life — for example, two boys posed at a garden gate (above) — as well as weddings, family portraits and communions. The blistered, moldy and disintegrating images honor the lives and memories lost to the storm.