Around 1991 I saw the Cajun-fusion band Beausoleil at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival, and I became intrigued by the culture of New Orleans and southwest Louisiana.  New Orleans has given the USA and ultimately, the western world, so much music:  Dixieland, Rhythm and Blues, and of course Jazz, often referred to as America's true, original art form. And west of New Orleans, in what is known as the Acadiana region, there’s Cajun music, a sometimes haunting but always celebratory musical style influenced by Acadian traditions from the Canadian maritimes and France. Zydeco, a more rhythm and blues expansion of Cajun music (The word supposedly derived from the French phrase “Les haricots sont pas salés”) also comes from the region.

I visited Louisiana in 1992 and 1994.  The culture, food, and music made an impression on me that persists to this day. 

Coming from a town that was busily destroying its modest stock of historical buildings, I was immediately struck by the overwhelming presence of the past in New Orleans and the surrounding area.  Louisiana seemed like a place where myths and legends merge seamlessly with contemporary life.  I was seduced by everything: from the touristy (yet still authentic) French Quarter, to the roux-like bayous and swamps where Cajun traditions and tales linger, and crawfish are as plentiful as mosquitoes.

These photographs are the observations of a charmed outsider.  I tried to capture the local atmosphere, the fusion of climate and culture that defines a sensual Deep South experience.  As a youngish photographer in the early 1990s, this was my first attempt at creating a serious portfolio.