Description

The Woodard Family

Tragic images on television of the devastation created by 2005 Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Louisiana, coupled with tears streaming down the face of Knicks forward Stephon Marbury, caught my attention. It was at the beckoning my photographic colleague Russell Fredrick from Brooklyn, NY, who said, “Howard, you need to go down there,” so I organized my resources and headed to the Gulf Coast.

“Rebuilding Their Lives after Hurricane Katrina” was born with the flavor of humanity in mind. I was more concerned about the human spirit because property damage can usually be repaired but tragedy in the lives of people goes on for generations.

Coverage of “The Woodard Family” came to me through the late John Woodard in Harlem, New York. John, being one of my collectors, found out what I was doing and said, “You must photograph my family.” I was off!

They lived in Nunan, Georgia. My son Rodney lived in Greenville, SC drove me to the home they now shared with a family member. As photographing began after the interview, I looked at Rita’s hands and they spoke of historically volumes of prideful generational rural stories of toil and struggle. With her daughter on her right and son at her left, their truth of family perseverance and unity is told with love.