KATRINA: MISSISSIPPI WOMEN REMEMBER
PHOTOGRAPHS BY MELODY GOLDING
Exhibition is sponsored in part by:
The Mississippi Humanities Council
National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.
1250 New York Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20003-3970
KATRINA: MISSISSIPPI WOMEN REMEMBER PHOTOGRAPHS BY MELODY GOLDING
March 9, 2007-May 28, 2007
WASHINGTON, D.C.- March 10, 2007 - On August 29, 2005, a monstrous storm came ashore leaving behind enormous destruction beyond belief. The National Museum of Women in the Arts pays tribute to this tragic event from March 9, 2007 to May 28, 2007, through the photographic exhibit, “Katrina: Mississippi Women Remember: Photographs by Melody Golding.” The 53 photographs offer personal insights into life on the Mississippi Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina.
Through a rich collage of images and stories by Mississippi women, the exhibition documents the tempest's initial overwhelming devastation, followed by the determination of Mississippi's inhabitants to endure and prevail.
Noted photographer Melody Golding came to the Gulf Coast as a volunteer for the American Red Cross, bringing supplies and a desire to help. Her unique sepia-toned photographs, as well as a video diary of her year-long sojourn along the coast are stunning and powerful in their simplicity.
Her eyewitness account of Katrina's wake, and its impact upon coastal residents from Pearlington to Pascagoula, is accompanied by stories written by survivors of the storm. The participants in the photographs and stories are women from Mississippi, many are artists themselves.
In the early days of the catastrophe, despite desperate circumstances and with great generosity of spirit, these women recorded their experiences with a broad diversity of voices. In addition, operatic soprano Lucia Lynn, a native of Mississippi, currently residing in Los Angeles, composed and performed Song of Katrina for the video chronicle.
This exhibition, which documents the artist's photographic journey, accurately reflects the book Katrina: Mississippi Women Remember, which will be released by The University Press of Mississippi in May 2007. Included are essays by Mississippi authors Ellen Gilchrist and Mary Anderson Pickard.
Although the physical and psychological ordeal of Katrina has not yet ended, this exhibition presents a new chapter in the history of Mississippi women, a unique account of reclamation, resolution, and recovery.
DOCUMENTARY FILM
EXHIBITION DATES
Walter Anderson Museum of Art, Ocean Springs, Mississippi
June 1 - August 16, 2006
Mississippi Capitol Rotunda, Jackson, Mississippi
October 2006
The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C. Mississippi
March 7 - May 28, 2007
The Masur Museum of Art, Monroe, Louisiana
August 1 - September 1, 2007
Congressional Hearing Room of The Department of Homeland Security Washington, D.C.
Fall 2007 - Indefinite Date
The Schepis Museum of Art, Columbia, Louisiana
September 4 - November 7, 2007
The Southern Cultural Heritage Foundation, Vicksburg, Mississippi
November 15 -January 4, 2008
The Tunica Museum, Tunica, Mississippi
January 15 - May 24, 2008
The Gammil Gallery, The University of Mississippi
Oxford, Mississippi
The Center for Southern Studies
June 1 - August 31, 2008
The Samuel M. Gore Gallery, Mississippi College,
Clinton, Mississippi
September 9 - December 19, 2008
The Colvard Student Union
Colvard Student Union Art Gallery
Mississippi State University
Starkville, Mississippi
January 5 - March 22, 2009
Katrina Research Center
Universtiy of Southern Mississippi
Long Beach, MS
ABOUT THE ARTIST
MELODY GOLDING - PHOTOGRAPHER
"God has given me this gift to share in what I see in this world as a patient and ardent observer, and also a participant in what I see - the camera being the conduit of expression in my photography."
An earlier solo exhibition of the Golding's photography and text titled, “Stark Exposures: Images of Katrina,” was on view at the Walter Anderson Museum of Art from June 1-August 16, 2006. This was the first show about Hurricane Katrina on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Golding is a member of the Royal Photographic Society, London, and her Katrina photographs were featured in The Royal Photographic Society Awards Journal in October 2005.
The Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson, MS, has included Golding's work in the permanent collection, and her photography is in numerous other collections and historical museums. Her photographs were chosen for inclusion in the Texas Photographic Society 21st Annual Members Only Show which exhibited in San Francisco, California and Houston, Texas in the spring of 2006.
Melody has documented complex architectural wonders and the natural environment as well as preserving moments in the incredible lives of others on four continents.
EXHIBITION SPONSORSHIP
Katrina: Mississippi Women Remember: Photographs by Melody Golding is presented by the National Museum of Women in the Arts with generous sponsorship from Chevron.
TRAVELING EXHIBITION
SURVIVOR STORIES
I walk through the front door and go from room to washed-out room, seeing in my minds eye the way it once was.
Opal Smith - Pascagoula, MS
Sometimes I just want to go home. I want to go in my bedroom, close the door and feel the coolness of the sheets. There is no door. There is no bedroom. I have no home.
Germaine Weldon - Ocean Springs, MS
Marcella Upton - Ocean Springs, MS
We remembered that with Hurricane Camille, some 35 years previously, a fortune teller, Jean Dixon, had prophesied that Mississippi would be blown away by a huge storm. This time with every cloud, we wondered, "Is this it?"
Lois Swaney - Holly Springs, MS
So strange the way things work out. How the threads of events can wrap and twist without one ever feeling their tug and pull. Making an off-hand promise for a couple of days of Katrina volunteer work caught me, kept me, and changed me forever.
Stacey Waites - Vicksburg, MS
Where would we be if it had not been for those who reached out to us and continue to give us hope and strength. Even though things are getting better, it is still a long way from being over.
Ann Ladner
MUSIC
Soprano Lucia Lynn, a native of Mississippi and Minnesota composed and wrote Song for Katrina. This haunting and beautiful song accurately captures the losses of an entire region.
BOOK
Katrina: Mississippi Women Remember photography by Melody Golding is published by the University Press of Mississippi and can be purchased through Amazon.com or Barnes&Noble.com. Royalties from book sales will aid the Mississippi Gulf Coast recovery.