Artist: Stan Strembicki

Project: A Matter of Faith

Description: Stan Strembicki’s project, A Matter of Faith, represents thirteen years of work documenting the afterlife of churches affected by Hurricane Katrina in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans. In the weeks following the storm, Strembicki photographed forty-four houses of worship, then revisited them year after year, speaking with pastors, deacons, and members, recording the state of their church and its structures. Some of the Ninth Ward’s churches remain in disrepair, still harboring the thick mud brought in by floods, but many have been salvaged or rebuilt, providing a shining light of stability for those families rattled by Katrina in 2005. As a result, Strembicki’s images, which span this period of wreckage and transformation, have become “less about the ‘before and after’ and more about the power of faith-based institutions to rebuild a community.”

Eyes on the South&\#xA0;is curated by&\#xA0;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, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..