Artist: Virginia Hanusik 

Project: Backwater

Description: In her ongoing project Backwater, Virginia Hanusik examines how coastal communities respond and adapt to land loss on what the artist calls “the frontline of climate change”—specifically in Southeast Louisiana, which is experiencing sea-level rise faster than anywhere in the world, losing a football-field-size worth of land every hour. “The sites along the coast that I document convey a landscape of hope, irony, and neglect,” Hanusik writes. “The region itself is a microcosm of preservation and destruction. Homes, commercial buildings, roads, and street signs tell the story of a place with a vibrant past yet highly uncertain future as encroaching water threatens its very existence.”

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  Along Route 46, Reggio, LA

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  St. Thomas Church, Highway 15, LA

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  New Raised Home Near Horsepower Canal, Phoenix, LA

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  Irish Bayou Little Castle, Route 11, LA

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  End of Route 300, Delacroix, LA

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  Entrance to Grand Isle, LA

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  Refinery near Bohemia, LA

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  Last Stop Mart, Saint Bernard Parish, LA

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  Ferry Landing, Scarsdale, LA

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  “Welcome Survivors,” Grand Isle, LA

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  Levee on Route 46, Saint Bernard, LA

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  Fontainebleau State Park, North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain

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  Tide Water Road, Venice, LA

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  Spring on Route 15, Pointe a la Hache, LA

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  Road 57 connecting Dulac and Cocodrie, LA

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  Shell Beach, LA

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  Sunset over Lake Pontchartrain, Mandeville, LA

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  Redfish Street, Cocodrie, LA

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  Irish Bayou, Orleans Parish, LA

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  Between Reggio and Delacroix, LA

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  End of Route 46 near Hopedale, LA

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  Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, Shell Beach, LA

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  Yscloskey Highway, Saint Bernard, LA

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  Highway 11, Saint Bernard, LA

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  End of Shell Beach, LA

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  Little Caillou Road, Chauvin, LA

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  Reggio, LA

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Eyes on the South is curated by Jeff Rich. The weekly series features selections of current work from Southern artists, or artists whose photography concerns the South. To submit your work to the series, email Jeff at oa.eyesonthesouth@gmail.com