This project uses a 5x7 film camera to document the history, landscape and culture of one of America's most distinct and anomalous regions, Southern Louisiana. A French and Spanish colony until 1803, its Créole inhabitants resisted the encroachment of American language and influences well into the 19th Century. Equally obstinate was the region's geography. Consisting mainly of swamps, salt marshes and low-lying prairies, it is hard to imagine a more inhospitable place for 18th Century colonists attempting to re-create European civilization. In their struggles against hurricanes, floods, snakes, insects, disease, heat and humidity, French and Spanish settlers had to draw upon the survival skills of their African slaves and of native people. All three groups intermingled and a unique hybrid culture was born.
