We used to play here

3 panels, acrylic on canvas,72" x 36" These paintings portray a part of the Cypress Triangle, Bayou Bienvenue which is located in the Lower 9th Ward, New Orleans. Once a vibrant cypress swamp. The dredging of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MR-GO), Hurricane Betsy and the Superfund landfill site (pictured as the strip of land in the fist panel), all contributed to its death. Elders in the Lower 9th talk about a time when they used to catch crawfish and enjoyed the beautiful and vibrant fresh water cypress swamp. At the time you couldn’t see the water for the natural green plant life that lived in it. Pre-1965, there was no wall carelessly cutting off the residents from the natural resource. Now many children in the area have grown up never having been aware of the swamp behind the metal wall. Since my visit there, the University of Colorado, Common Ground Relief and many residents of the Lower 9th have erected an observation deck on this site to try to bring the people and the once-beloved swamp back together again.