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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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Waterwords
A photolightwork collaborative installation by Debra Howell & Jan Gilbert, August 29, 2006 (detail)


Installation view of Waterwords at the Contemporary Arts Center, 2006

This “Katrina Pictionary” plays on the linguistic phenomenon in which a word’s importance in a culture is reflected in the number of variations of it that exist in the cultural lexicon. The possible result of whiling away the hours of, say, an evacuation by playing parlour games, these “pages” of waterwords and images mimic both the traditional game of “Pictionary” and the somewhat sillier game of "Fortune Cookie" whereby you are required to insert the words “in bed” after every statement read by the players. Here, the game addresses the flood-related losses of so many with the hope of softening the sorrows with wordplay and image.

Update, September 2007. Waterwords is now available for purchase as an archival lightjet print. Click here for details

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"Crying Houses" by Krista Jurisich
From the Mortelles series, art quilts of photo and fabric pieces showing fast-disappearing images of New Orleans.


Detail (top image) and full view (bottom image)
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©  2006 The Vestiges Project.
www.thevestigesproject.org