This body of work was made during several visits to my home town, New Orleans, in 2007 and 2008. In fact, this work grew out of a series of portraits I began in 2005, with the idea of helping people create a new photographic collection of family photos, which thousands lost in the flood.

I was introduced to the students of John McDonogh high school by a volunteer who was working at the school after the storm. I decided to focus my attention on these brave young adults.

About the artist:

Lisa Silvestri was born and raised in New Orleans. She moved to New York to study fashion and photography in 1980. After completing her education, she created her own brand of children’s clothes, Ida Ltd., which reached worldwide sales. She was responsible for all of Ida’s advertising images, which made her an expert in photographing children. In 1997, she decided to focus exclusively on photography, and her work has been published in magazines such as Self, Martha Stewart, Money, Smart Money and Avenue.

Lisa uses a large-format camera, with 4×5 or 5×7 negatives. Contacts are obtained directly from the negatives using a nineteenth-century process. Platinum or palladium metals are mixed by hand in liquid form, and the paper is painted equally by hand. Prints are exposed to the sun or ultraviolet light sources to complete the process.

Visit http://www.lisasilvestri.com and http://www.thejohnmcdonoghseries.com/