BUFFALO, June 10th- Clark Dever, an independent photo journalist and community organizer, will be showing a series of his photographs captured in post-Katrina New Orleans and in Buffalo’s impoverished areas. The images highlight the similarities between the destruction that has occurred in two American cities; one destroyed quickly by a natural disaster, one crumbling after a slow economic collapse.

The show “When the Financial Levies Broke” is opening Friday, July 10th from 5pm-8pm at The Grant Street Gallery – 216 Grant Street (at Lafayette Avenue) and will continue through July 16th.


The images of New Orleans were captured during a trip that Dever organized in March, 2006. He recruited over 50 students from the University of Buffalo to travel to New Orleans and participate in the relief effort during their Spring Break. The culmination of theproject occurred as Dever was training for the Buffalo Marathon with two of his friends; when passing through the East Side on a run, they were overwhelmed by the number of destroyed houses and vacant lots. This sparked a documentary expedition that makes up the second part of the collection.

Through the exhibit, Dever hopes to raise awareness of the poverty and housing issues in Buffalo’s inner city, while also reminding the viewers that New Orleans is still in disrepair with hundreds of thousands of people unable to return to their homes. He desires to motivate people to take action. Buffalo Re-Use, People United for Sustainable Housing, and Buffalo First, will all have representatives attending the Gallery Opening; they will answer questions about their organizations and explain to attendees how they can get involved.

“We were running through the East Side and we noticed how similar the destruction was, right down to the spray paint on the houses used to mark them for demolition; it reminded us of the graffiti used by FEMA in New Orleans.” said Ryan McGinnis, an alumnus from the University of Buffalo Relief Trip

“New Orleans was quite an eye opener, it was like being in a war zone. Roofs were torn off of houses, walls collapsed; everywhere you went was just a huge debris field. One of the most depressing realizations that I had there, was that all my images looked the same; just another pile of rubble that used to be someone’s life.” lamented Dever.

About Clark Dever:

Clark Dever, a graduate of SUNY Buffalo, is a photographer residing in Buffalo, NY. His images have been published in several area publications including The Spectrum, Generation Magazine, Visions Magazine and wnymedia.net. He specializes in event photography, photo journalism, and portraiture.

Contact:
Clark Dever
Photographer
Phone: +1 716 713 3199
Email: clarkdever@gmail.com