Into the quiet and the light: water, life, and land loss in South Louisiana

Abstract

"In South Louisiana, where the Mississippi River meets the Gulf of Mexico, water--and the history of controlling it--is omnipresent. Into the Quiet and the Light: Water, Life, and Land Loss in South Louisiana glimpses the vulnerabilities and possibilities of living on the water during an ongoing climate catastrophe and the fallout of the fossil fuel industry--past, present, and future. The book sustains our physical, mental, and emotional connections to these landscapes through a collection of photographs by Virginia Hanusik. Framing the architecture and infrastructure of South Louisiana with both distance and intimacy, introspection and expansiveness, this work engages new memories, microhistories, anecdotes, and insights from scholars, artists, activists, and practitioners working in the region. Unfolding alongside and in dialogue with Hanusik's photographs, these reflections soberly and hopefully populate images of South Louisiana's built and natural environments, opening up multiple pathways that defy singularity and complicate the disaster-oriented imagery often associated with the region and its people. In staging these meditations on water, life, and land loss, this book invites readers to join both Hanusik and the contributors in reading multiplicity into South Louisiana's water-ruled landscapes." -- Provided by publisher.

Contents

Indeterminate Landscapes / Virginia Hanusik -- Marsh Cows Near Venice, Plaquemines Parish, 2022 -- Power Lines over Lake Pontchartrain, 2022 -- Picturing Emergence, or Salix nigra / Kate Orff -- Sand Pipeline, Trinity Island Restoration Project, 2021 -- Chalmette Refinery from the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet, 2023 --- The Mississippi River South of Port Sulphur, 2022 -- Out of Touch and Over the Horizon / Richie Blink -- The River, the Giver / Jessi Parfait -- Raised House in Delacroix, St. Bernard Parish, 2022 -- Pointe Aux Chene Marina, Terrebonne Parish, 2018 -- Tree on Bayou St. John, New Orleans, 2020 -- Sign in Venice, Plaquemines Parish, 2022 -- Life at the End of the Road / T. Mayheart Dardar -- Radiator Rice / Amy Francis Stelly -- Burrito Levee and Construction on Grand Isle, 2022 -- London Avenue Canal, New Orleans, 2021 -- Shrimp Nets Near Grand Bayou Village, 2021 -- Chạo tôm / Nini Nguyen -- Fruit Stand and Refinery, Route 23 Near Ironton, Plaquemines Parish, 2021 -- Sign in Delacroix, St. Bernard Parish, 2020 -- Lake Maurepas Near Akers, 2022 -- Tarping after Hurricane Ida, Cocodrie, 2022 -- Industrial Canal Levee, Lower Ninth Ward, New Orleans, 2019 -- Nurturing the Next Generation Ravaged by Climate Change / Arthur Johnson -- What Will They Write About Us? / Jessica Dandridge -- Cemetery Near Bayou Barataria, Lafitte, 2021 -- Lake Maurepas after Hurricane Ida, 2022 -- Chauvin Sculpture Garden, Terrebonne Parish, 2023 -- Marsh Near Bay Denesse NO.1, Plaquemines Parish, 2021 -- Marsh Near Bay Denesse NO.2, Plaquemines Parish, 2021 -- What shatters the stillness of the captured moment / Imani Jacqueline Brown -- Pelican Pointe Marina, Orleans Parish, 2022 -- Mother House, Grand Isle, 2020 -- Houseboat Near Route 55, Lake Maurepas, 2021 -- The Great Wall of Louisiana NO.1, 2022 -- The Great Wall of Louisiana NO.2, 2022 -- The Great Wall of Louisiana NO.3, 2022 -- What Would Happen / Andy Horowitz -- Houseboat on Lake Maurepas, 2015 -- House for Sale, Isle de Jean Charles, 2021 -- Irish Bayou Castle, Orleans Parish, 2022 -- Why Are We Saving New Orleans? / Amy Francis Stelly -- Oil Infrastructure on the Mississippi River, Lower Plaquemines Parish, 2022 -- The Mississippi River Near Fort St. Philip, Plaquemines Parish, 2022 -- Abandoned Oil Infrastructure, Plaquemines Parish, 2022 -- Portals and Instruments / Billy Fleming -- Distance, Empathy, Transformation / Aaron Turner -- Shell Billboard, Highway 90, Des Allemands, 2023 -- Devil's Bargain / Michael Esealuka -- Cypress Museum, Pierre Part, 2018 -- Six Months after Hurricane Ida, Grand Isle, 2022 -- Raised House in Plaquemines Parish Near Buras, 2023 -- New Construction, Grand Isle, 2020 -- Collective Failure, Individualized Risk / Rebecca Elliott -- Bayou Bienvenue and the New Orleans Skyline from Paris Road, 2020 -- Camp on Lake Maurepas, 2021 -- John and Bernita's House NO.1, Montegut, 2023 -- John and Bernita's House NO.2, Montegut, 2023 -- Drying Shrimp, Montegut, 2023 -- A Conversation with John Verdin -- Lake St. Catherine, Orleans Parish, 2023 -- Marsh Near Grand Bayou Village, Plaquemines Parish, 2020 -- Grand Isle Six Months after Hurricane Ida, 2022 -- Living, Not Just Surviving / Jonathan Tate -- Former Marsh Near Point a la Hache, Plaquemines Parish, 2021 -- Valero Refinery, Norco, 2020 -- Elevated Route I over Leeville, 2021 -- Returning to the Water / Jessi Parfait -- Yscloskey Water Tower, St. Bernard Parish, 2023 -- Lake Pontchartrain Levee on Hayne Boulevard, New Orleans East, 2019 -- Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet, Shell Beach, 2023 -- Houseboat on Lake Maurepas, 2022 -- Batture House, Jefferson Parish, 2022 -- Emergency Vessel on Old Route I, Leeville, 2020 -- Raccourcis = Shortcuts / Louis Michot -- Fishing Lines on Tide Water Road, Venice, 2020 -- Port Eads Lighthouse, Plaquemines Parish, 2020 -- Acknowledgments -- Contributors.