Prospect New Orleans Unveils Artists of Public Memory Commission, Memoirs of the Lower 9th Ward by New Orleans based artist Chandra McCormick and Keith Calhoun

Mrs. Josephine Offord holds a portrait of her husband, the late Nathaniel Offord. Mrs. Josephine lived in the 5400 block of N. Claiborne Avenue, where the Lower 9th Ward Memoirs sculpture is installed, and she is also the grandmother of the artist, Chandra McCormick. Image courtesy of Chandra McCormick (1992) ©.

Prospect New Orleans is excited to announce the unveiling of its second Artists of Public Memory Commission, Memoirs of the Lower 9th Ward, by New Orleans based artists Chandra McCormick and Keith Calhoun. The unveiling will take place on Saturday, December 9, 2023, and the installation will be on view at the 5400 block of N. Claiborne Ave located at the neutral ground in between Andry St. and Flood St. (29.966474, -90.016063).

Artists and documentary photographers Chandra McCormick and Keith Calhoun’s collaborative public art project, Memoirs of the Lower 9th Ward, challenges conventional structures of remembrance, symbols of shared memory, and our understanding of who or what should be memorialized and how in public spaces.

Reflecting over forty years of photographic documentation of the Lower 9th Ward, McCormick and Calhoun’s sculpture of public memory takes the shape of a house in photographic form, symbolically gesturing to the neighborhood’s high rates of Black homeownership and the intergenerational bonds of a community that has transcended years of geographic isolation and municipal neglect. The sculpture’s title serves as a monument to the rich history and enduring spirit of the community, emphasizing the importance of valuing and investing in the preservation of Black communities.

For more information on the installation, click here.

Boogie Bill Web, Plays The Blues for friends at 2030 Forstall Street, Lower 9th Ward. Image courtesy of Keith Calhoun (1983) ©.