Created in Dallas, Texas with largely local materials,
this piece is influenced by being built within the post-Katrina Diaspora, both
physically (of those who left New Orleans, many went to Dallas), and spiritually. The
class-lopsidenedness of Hurricane Katrina’s impact asks the question of what happens to the soul
of a nation when it leaves its least fortunate to their own devices on their worst days. This piece does
not seek to address poverty as such but it does seek to ask us all, rich and poor, what is happening in our
hearts and souls as the abjectly poor grow in numbers .and the feudally wealthy grow in health. We are
all witnesses to the changes of our times. The image Roadside Bum #2 carries on his/her back is a
radar model of huricane Katrina when it hit land. Though climate change may or may
not have strengthened Katrina, we may well bear witness in our lifetimes
to storms of our own making.