KATRINA: MISSISSIPPI WOMEN REMEMBER:
PHOTOGRAPHS BY MELODY GOLDING
March 9, 2007–May 28, 2007
WASHINGTON—On August 29, 2005, a monstrous storm came ashore leaving behind enormous destruction beyond belief. The National Museum of Women in the Arts pays tribute to this tragic event from March 9, 2007, to May 28, 2007, through Katrina: Mississippi Women Remember: Photographs by Melody Golding. The more than 50 photographs offer personal insights into life on the Mississippi Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina. Through a rich collage of images and stories, the exhibition documents the tempest’s initial overwhelming devastation, followed by the determination of Mississippi’s inhabitants to endure and prevail.
Noted Vicksburg photographer Melody Golding came to the Gulf Coast as a volunteer for the American Red Cross, bringing supplies and a desire to help. Her unique sepia-toned photographs, as well as a video diary, of her year-long sojourn along the coast are stunning and powerful in their simplicity.
Soprano, Lucia Lynn, a native of Mississippi composed and performed Song for Katrina which accompanies the streaming video. This haunting and painfully beautiful song is testament to the loss of life and a way of life on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
Melody Golding’s eye witness account of Katrina’s wake and its impact upon coastal residents from Pearlington to Pascagoula, is accompanied by stories written by survivors of the storm. The writers are friends and members of the Mississippi State Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and many are artists. In the early days of the catastrophe, despite desperate circumstances and with great generosity of spirit, these women recorded their experiences with a broad diversity of voices.
Although the physical and psychological ordeal of Katrina has not yet ended, this exhibition presents a new chapter in the history of Mississippi women, a unique account of reclamation, resolution, and recovery.
About the Artist
MELODY GOLDING – PHOTOGRAPHER
“I try to capture in my work a sense not only of timelessness, but of grace. To convey an observance of order out of the usual chaos of visual forms. God has given me this gift to share in what I see in this world as a patient and ardent observer, and also a participant in what I see - the camera being the conduit of expression in my photography, the palette knife in my painting.”
A solo exhibition of Melody’s work ‘Katrina: Mississippi Women Remember’ opens at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC, March-May 2007. Fifty sepia toned silver gelatin prints and unique large imbue prints will be exhibited along with hours of black and white streaming video Melody has taken spanning from September 2005 to August 2006.
This comprehensive exhibition and unique photographic journal, with its stunning sepia photographs of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina forms the basis of the book entitled ‘Katrina: Mississippi Women Remember’ to be published by the University Press of Mississippi in May 2007. Included are essays by noted authors Ellen Gilchrist and Mary Anderson Pickard. This book will join Melody’s photographs of the storm’s aftermath with the stories and reflections of those who lived through it. A compelling component of this exhibit is the interspersed text of poignant phrases drawn from the book.
A solo exhibit of Melody’s work, “Stark Exposures: Images of Katrina”, opened at the Walter Anderson Museum of Art on June 1 and continued through August 16, 2006. This was the first exhibit about Hurricane Katrina on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
As Melody documented the aftermath of the devastating Hurricane Katrina on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, some of her photographs were featured in The Royal Photographic Society Awards Journal, London October 2005. She is a member of The Royal Photographic Society, London.
The Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson has included Melody Golding’s work in the permanent collection, and her photography is in numerous other collections and historical museums. Melody’s work was chosen for inclusion in the Texas Photographic Society 21st Annual Members Only Show which exhibited in San Francisco, California and Houston Texas in the spring of 2006. She has shown at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. on several occasions at the Annual Spring Gala.
Melody has documented complex architectural wonders and the natural environment, as well as preserving moments in the incredible lives of others on four continents.
Sharing her vision is her goal. Melody lives in Vicksburg with her husband, and sons.
Exhibition Sponsorship
Katrina: Mississippi Women Remember: Photographs by Melody Golding
is presented by the National Museum of Women in the Arts with generous sponsorship from Chevron.
NMWA at 20
The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), founded in 1981 and opened in April 1987, is the only museum dedicated solely to celebrating the achievements of women in the visual, performing, and literary arts. The museum contains works by more than 900 artists in its permanent collection, maintains a Library and Research Center, and conducts multidisciplinary programs for diverse audiences. In the past 20 years since its’ opening the museum has presented more than 200 exhibitions, expanded its permanent collection to include over 3,600 pieces, and has a membership ranking it in the top ten museums nationally with more than 30,000 members. In celebration of the museum’s 20th anniversary three ground-breaking exhibits will be presented: The Book as Art: Twenty Years of Artists ’ Books from the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Italian Women Artists from Renaissance to Baroque, and WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution, 1965-1980. The museum will also inaugurate CLARA: Database of Women Artists, a Web-accessible, authoritative resource for students, scholars, and the general public. NMWA is located at 1250 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C., in a landmark building near the White House. It is open Monday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. and Sunday, noon–5 p.m. For information, call 202-783-5000 or visit the museum’s Web site at www.nmwa.org.
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