LOS INVISIBLES: LATINO IMMIGRANTS WHO REBUILT NEW ORLEANS
CALL TO PHOTOGRAPHERS in New Orleans and across the country who have documentary photos of the Latino immigrant workers who were vital to the reconstruction of post-Katrina New Orleans from the fall of 2005 to the present.
As we approach the 5th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the levee failures that doomed the city, the dirtiest little secret of the rebuilding of New Orleans is that it owes a great debt to the thousands of immigrant workers who literally rebuilt the city with their noble labor. While the immigrant workers were visible throughout every part of the city on rooftops and construction sites, they have remained practically invisible on a social level to the general public of New Orleans who have benefited from their labor. The undocumented status of many have kept this huge work force in the shadows.
LOS INVISIBLES exhibition aims to honor them and their contribution to the city.
Photographers with documentary photos, portraiture, and conceptual images that explore the Latino immigrant presence in post-Katrina New Orleans are invited to submit four images per submission. A modest $20 entry fee is required.
Selected entries will be exhibited at Barrister’s Gallery in New Orleans from
August 14 through September 4, 2010.
Submissions deadline: August 2, 2010
Notification of acceptance: August 5, 2010
Deadline for receiving accepted works: August 10, 2010
Opening Reception: Saturday, August 14, 2010 from 6 – 9PM
Juror: José Torres-Tama
Submit: http://www.torrestama.com/photo_submit.php
About the Juror: José Torres-Tama explores the North American Dream mythology and the Latino immigrant experience through critical writings, visual and performance art. He has served as curator for an exhibit of New Orleans photographers at Vanderbilt University in 2007, and last year, he was the juror for the highly successful CALIENTE/HOT photo exhibition at the New Orleans Photo Alliance. He is a recipient of an NEA Award for his performance work and a Louisiana Theater Fellow. He recently received a 2009-10 Creation Fund Award from the National Performance Network to develop a new multimedia performance called ALIENS, IMMIGRANTS & OTHER EVILDOERS, which explores the criminalization of Latinos immigrants in the USA. In 2008, the Joan Mitchell Foundation of New York awarded him and the Ogden Museum publication funds for an exhibition catalog to document his portrait series on Creole culture called New Orleans Free People of Color & Their Legacy. Published by the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans, the art book accompanies the exhibit of Torres-Tama’s portraits that opened at the Ogden in October 2009. His post-Katrina commentaries have aired on NPR’s Latino USA weekly news journal, for which he is a regular contributor. www.torrestama.com