Seeing Harvey

Opening just after the storm’s one-year anniversary, SEEING HARVEY: Personal Stories, Public Responses focused on the widespread and sustained influence Hurricane Harvey had on the region’s landscape, infrastructure, and communities, and on the resilience and fortitude of those affected.

Seeing Harvey combined images from professional photojournalists and artists with photographs made by members of the public. To assemble the collection, FotoFest accepted submissions of work from the public through social media and via the web.

Harvey dropped an estimated 27 trillion gallons of water on the states of Texas and Louisiana, causing an estimated $190 billion in damages and taking the lives of 107 people. It will likely be remembered as the costliest storm in United States history. As the Gulf Coast enters another hurricane season, SEEING HARVEY looks back and considers what has been learned, how things have changed, and what, if anything, has improved.

Working with partners, including the recently-established Houston Flood Museum, the Houston Chronicle newspaper, the Center for Public History at the University of Houston, and the Severe Storm Prediction, Education, & Evacuation from Disasters (SSPEED) Center at Rice University, FotoFest is staging a number of public programs to encourage discussion on how the region collectively dealt with the events, and how the people, the city, state, and federal governments are preparing for future storms.

SEEING HARVEY was a project of FotoFest International, a platform for art and ideas, presents the first and longest-running international Biennial of photography and new media art in the United States. A cultural non-profit organization based in Houston, Texas, FotoFest organizes year-round exhibitions and a classroom-based learning program, Literacy Through Photography that uses photography as a tool to strengthen student writing and learning skills. FotoFest’s acclaimed Biennial and related programs are distinguished by their commitment to social issues and the presentation of important new contemporary artwork that is often not yet widely shown.

SEEING HARVEY was on display from September 6 – November 3 at Silver Street Studios.