GutterPunks.
Digital images.
2-3 Megabytes each.
September 15, 2004.

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It was mid September and a hurricane was headed directly towards New Orleans. One year before Hurricane Katrina devastated the city, Hurricane Ivan churned in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The srteets emptied and everyone held their breath.

Should I Stay or Should I Go Now?

New Orleans was home to many people living on the streets, squatting in rundown apartments or abandoned warehouses along the Mississippi River. One group of mostly young runaways and anti-establishment types were famously labelled GutterPunks, because they looked like Punk Rockers and they usually could be found lounging in the gutters of the French Quarter.

As night fell on Sept. 14, 2004, it seemed the city would take a direct hit from Ivan. Those who would or could evacuate did. However, during the night Ivan turned and New Orleans was spared. September 15, 2004 was a pleasant and sunny day.

I was relieved to be safe and glad I had stayed. I knew the city would be empty, so I grabbed my camera and made my way to the Vieux Carre. I wanted to know where the GutterPunks had spent the night. Where would they find shelter from the storm?

They stayed with friends, in shelters, and wind-worn buildings. One couple spent the evening in a tree high on crystal meth and malt liquor.

Spunkunited.com, a hip design website from Singapore, wanted to profile my work on their website. I borrowed a quote from another Ivan and wrote this poem to describe the photographs:

"Rich countries like the United States... might never reach the point of choking on their own waste, but only because their societies will have already collapsed into a sociocultural energy coma." - Ivan Illich, Energy and Equity, Toward a History of Needs. New York: Pantheon, 1978.

-you have a sense about these things. the air becomes. not in a specific way. there is an awareness. a feeling in your body. energy. the pressure shifts. a hurricane looms on the stirring day. ivan. motor from his path. move. work. stress. fear. lock your home against this visitor. if you have no bed...where do you mount your defenses? how do you defeat this force that now only whispers in your ear. the whisper grows to a growl. a roar. the perception of smallness. how slight. in the eye of a force outside of your control. outside of the control of any man. nay mankind. homelessness sounds like hopelessness. however, homelessness for gutterpunks is often a chosen course. it is a lifestyle. dwelling in abondoned houses and industrial areas with friends. begging. working. stealing. lying for eats and cheap beer. the explanations for living on the streets of New Orleans are as diverse as the politics and doctrines they admonish. each time a new hurricane is named. it's given human characteristics. named. associated with persons by the same. Question: How did you fair against Ivan?