Neutral Ground
Description
I was born and raised in New Orleans. However, I never fully appreciated how unique a place it was until I went off to college. It then occurred to me that New Orleans was completely singular in its culture, food, architecture, music, art, and colloquialisms. Even the air is unique, soaked in humidity, which affects the light.
As a seven year old, in 1965, Hurricane Betsy formed around the date of my birthday, September 8th. Betsy was to be my first experience with a terrifying hurricane but not my last. It left a mark on me. I wondered and worried, how can we live below sea level? Betsy broke levees and flooded low areas of the city. The storm caused a billion dollars in damage.
My last hurricane was some fifty years later, when Katrina struck, again flooding the city. It would be my last experience of the levees breaking. I moved northwest to Baton Rouge, further inland and on higher ground. The photographs that comprise this book, made between the time of these events and revelations, helped shape how I saw my beloved city. All images were made in and around New Orleans, between 1990 and 2005.
Reviews
“While geography and time may ultimately define the grouping, Greiner’s attention to color and visual texture are also hallmarks of the imagery. The captured vibrant hues draw you in, guiding one through a world now gone.”
— Caleb Bell, Glasstire
Author Bio
William Greiner (Born 1957, New Orleans LA), is an artist residing in Santa Fe, NM. Greiner holds BFA degrees from Tufts University/School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and an MBA from Suffolk University, Boston, MA. Greiner's work can be found in more than 60 public art collections, including The Museum of Modern Art NY, The Art Institute of Chicago, The J. Paul Getty Museum and The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Greiner has had two monographs published, The Reposed (1999) and Show & Tell (2014). Since 2014, Greiner has expanded his practice beyond photography to include painting, collage, sculpture and print making. Recently, he has focused on multi disciplinary projects and portraiture.
