Project: Monique Verdin
Bayougoula, Biloxi, Chitimatcha, Choctaw, Houma, and many other nations across the Mississippi River watershed have benefited from the wealth of natural resources and access to trade found in the delta for centuries. Multinational corporations continue to benefit from that access due to the foundations of colonial occupation and plantation practices, paving the way for their ever-expanding modern-day petrochemical projects, exposing human and nonhuman populations alike to toxic risks.
Louisiana Lost Treasure Map : Pointe aux Chênes, Louisiana : Yakne Chitto, photo collage of ghost forest on ancestral Houma territory using USGS survey maps by Monique Verdin, 2019
Using an assortment of multimedia tools, I plan to document the old distributaries along the Mississippi between Baton Rouge and Bulbancha (New Orleans). The intention of the inquiry is to juxtapose the historical waterways with what nowadays occupies the banks of these disconnected intersections; what has been either forgotten or erased, recognizing human interventions, and envisioning future transitions that can restore balance to the natural system.
