Synopses & Reviews
"Like a mournful fairytale, Jennifer Shaws beautifully staged tableaux are alternately sweet and menacing, filled with emotion but never spilling over into sentimentality. The poetic marriage of words and photos makes
Hurricane Story a childrens book for grown-ups.” Josh Neufeld, creator of
A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge"Even if you think you've seen it all where Katrina's concerned, trust me, you're going to love Shaw's marvelous memoir."The Times-Picayune
"This is the kind of book that reminds you that books can be beautiful objects." The Los Angeles Times
"Hurricane Story is a tabletop, toy box Odyssey. With simple objects, trenchant statements, and exquisite camera vision, Shaw relates an epic tale of displacement, creation and discovery." George Slade, curator, Photographic Resource Center, Boston
"An engaging variation on a near mythic theme."Gambit Weekly
Hurricane Story is a spellbinding odyssey of exile, birth and return told in forty-six photographs and simple, understated prose. This first-person narrative told through dreamlike images of toys and dolls chronicles one couples evacuation from New Orleans ahead of the broken levees, the birth of their first child on the day that Katrina made landfall, and their eventual return to the city as a family. Shaws photographs, at turns humorous and haunting, contrast deftly with the prose.
This clothbound hardcover edition includes an introduction by Rob Walker, author of Letters From New Orleans and former Consumed” columnist for The New York Times Magazine.
Synopsis
"Even if you think you've seen it all where Katrina's concerned, trust me, you're going to love Shaw's marvelous memoir."The Times-Picayune
"An engaging variation on a near mythic theme."Gambit Weekly
Hurricane Story is a visual tale told in about fifty photographs and simple, understated prose. The first-person narrative, illustrated with toys and dolls, depicts Jennifer Shaw's evacuation adventures, including the dramatic birth of a son on the day Katrina made landfall, the pressures on her marriage as the couple struggles with depression and rage, and the return to New Orleans with their newest family member in time for Mardi Gras. Her depiction of toys and dolls in place of the real-life items suggests a person working through trauma. The photographs from her Holga camera, at turns humorous and haunting, contrast deftly with the prose.
Jennifer Shaw is a fine-art photographer in New Orleans. She has a BFA in photography from the Rhode Island School of Design. Her work is held in both private and public collections, including the Huntsville Museum of Art, the New Orleans Museum of Art, and Ogden Museum of Southern Art. For Hurricane Story, she took the photographs with a Holga camera, an inexpensive toy camera originally from China. These simple plastic devices lend a whimsical spontaneity to the act of photographing. Although they offer little control in making exposures, their quirks can sometimes result in magic.
Synopsis
An odyssey of exile, birth and return told through dreamlike and sometimes haunting images of toys and dolls.
About the Author
Jennifer Shaw grew up in Milwaukee, studied photography at RISD, and then moved to New Orleans in pursuit of the artists life. She teaches the disappearing art of darkroom photography at the Louise S. McGehee School and works as a fine art photographer. She was a founding officer and board member of the New Orleans Photo Alliance and directs their annual PhotoNOLA festival, in addition to chasing after two young sons.
Jennifers photographs have been published in B&W Magazine, Shots, Light Leaks Magazine, The Oxford American, The Sun and The New Orleans Review. Her work is exhibited internationally and held in public collections, including the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, and the Houston Museum of Fine Arts. Shaw has also been featured in Plastic Cameras: Toying With Creativity (Focal Press, 2010) and Before During After (UNO Press, 2010).