Jacob Walker's Tattoo, Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana
Kael Alford
American, born 1971
Details
Title
Jacob Walker's Tattoo, Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana
Artist/Maker
Kael Alford (American, born 1971)
Date
2008
Medium
Pigmented inkjet print
Dimensions
Contact the museum for more information
Credit
Commissioned with funds from Paul Hagedorn, Phyllis and Sidney Rodbell, and the H. B. and Doris Massey Charitable Trust
Accession #
2012.26.2
Location
Currently not on view
In 2005 photographer Kael Alford was sent to Louisiana by a Dutch magazine to document the effects of Hurricane Katrina. While on location, she visited an area of the coast where her maternal grandmother had been born and that is still home to the Native American communities from which she descends. What Alford discovered there would become the subject of a multi-year documentary project to record the disappearing cultural and physical landscapes of the region. Alford drew the title of her project, Bottom of da Boot, from the tattoos of the young man pictured here. He lives on an island that is eroding into the Gulf of Mexico at the pace of a football-field-sized area of ground each hour.
Image Copyright
© Kael Alford.