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Photographs by Gerald Cyrus
Image: Lives Out of Context: A Hurricane of Race
Gerald Cyrus

In this selection of photographs, Gerald Cyrus documents the physical remnants left behind after hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Cyrus's images of empty lots where houses once stood convey a sense of desolation, while those of damaged houses and spray-painted signs serve as stand-ins for human presence. Together, the photos evoke the individuals and communities displaced by disaster.

Cyrus is one of ten members of Kamoinge—a New York-based collective of African American photographers—who documented communities ravished by the hurricanes and the devastation's far-reaching effects on the economic, social, and racial fabric of the population. The resulting body of work explores the despair, as well as the hope and resilience, of residents who have lived in these communities for generations.