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The VESTIGES Project was formed in 1984 as an ongoing, loosely-knit collective of artists and writers who share a common sense of place - New Orleans - and a common sensibility nurtured by the New Orleans environment. To VESTIGES Project participants, New Orleans signifies far more than merely a place on a map: it is an entity with a complex and eclectic culture, made up of layer upon layer of remnants, relics, rituals, memories and myths, and characterized by a hazy distinction between fiction and truth, facade and reality, past and present, that is peculiar to New Orleans.

Debra Howell

The New Orleans Memory Project is both a repository and an investigation: of our collective memory and identity; of the influence of our culture on our memories; of the relationship between our memories and our history. We’d like this site to act as the mirror before which we assess our each-day-older selves, and to which we attach our photos, our memorabilia, our hodgepodge of disparate items we want to mark, to remember, to keep close. Hopefully, we can use the strength of our collective memories and cultural identity to effect the plans for the future of our beloved city. While VESTIGES Project artists and writers will act as moderators, this project welcomes all contributions. Anyone can respond to an entry with comments, but contributions of text, images, audio and video clips should be sent via email to admin@thevestigesproject.org
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Memory (living in New Orleans)



"Living in New Orleans", by Debra Howell

Panel from installation at Canal Place Cinema


Link URL:   More about the installation

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Art Lost to Katrina



"Selected Fictions Comprise a Peculiar Reality" #8 and #35 by Debra Howell; Lost on Onyx Street
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Floodwall
As families returned to assess the damage to their homes and neighborhoods, one of the first signs of life was the appearance of a heap of trash at curbside: rotted sofas and mildewed drapes, family photos bleached of color and hopelessly glued together, moldy sheetrock, reeking bags of spoiled food and the refrigerators that once preserved it.


Detail of "Floodwall" installation

For artist Jana Napoli, as poignant as any part of the detritus were the furniture drawers in which we once had stored our special things: clothing, family photo albums, passports, medical records, heirloom silverware -- the intimate details of a world that no longer exists.

These drawers "also underscore that our lives are more than just our thoughts and physical embodiment. Our lives are our neighborhoods, our family, our friends, our neighbors, our workplace, our schools, our communities, our animals, our gardens, our personal property, and even our furniture drawers, the place where we store our secrets, our past lives, our photos, our mementos, our passions and our hopes and dreams."

Jana Napoli


Link URL:   www.floodwall.org

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New Orleans Memory Chocolates



"New Orleans Memory Chocolates and New Orleans Memory Chocolates - drained", by Jan Gilbert
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