Feature Exhibition

Elyse Defoor: X. U. M E

My spirit belonged in New Orleans well before the journey of X.U.ME began. The Big Easy, full of decay, magic and delight, holds precious memories of my early courtship and the celebration of my secret wedding. So when Hurricane Katrina threatened to destroy my beloved city, I was overcome with relief at the first news that she had been spared. Then the levees broke and the floods came. My universe shifted as grief and sadness enveloped me.

Six anxious months passed. In March 2006, armed with a mixture of hope and fear, my husband and I made our way back to New Orleans. For three days we roamed the high ground, wandering along the river from Audubon Park to beyond Jackson Square.

It was on our last day that we faced our true dread. An old cabbie took us to the areas outside the city where the real devastation lay. Like trespassers on a sacred battleground, we crept down the abandoned streets. I was overwhelmed by the endless landscape of loss and devastation. It was even worse than I had expected.

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