As recently exhibited at the State Library of NSW.
I went to this same exhibition last year, and the photo that I still find myself thinking about is one taken inside either a North or South Korean (big difference I know) factory.
The size of the Factory is impressive, the eye is drawn in to the middle horizontal of the frame, where two lines of identically dressed 'employees' stand at attention, as they sing the company song before starting work for the day.
They are all wearing navy blue uniforms with the company name emblazoned in red over their left breast. They stand in two very straight lines - possible as where they are to stand - shortest to tallest - is marked out with two red parallell lines.
In between massive machinery guards are posted, dressed in sombre grey.
It took me a few seconds to realise that the guards are armed.
This years image was taken during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina's path of destruction in New Orleans.
A man is standing in the foreground of the shot, he is thigh-deep in water with his back to the camera. He holds a big white bucket in his right hand, it is floating in the water beside him.
He is no doubt transfixed by what is happening in front of him.
A traditional sprawling New Orleans home, complete with white circular columns supporting a small balcony on one of the upper levels has it's first storey well and truly underwater. At the same time that the first storey is completely submerged, the upper level is ablaze.
The frame that the image is captured is tilted. It is possible to see that the surrounding buildings (offices and shops mainly) are also ablaze. The frame tilting lends even more weight to the bizarre scene at the focal point of the shot.
The issues surrounding the inhumane treatment of Hurricane Katrina's victims were as many as they were tragic.
Apathy. Corruption. Greed. Heartlessness. Power-mongering. Postulating. Human error. Stupidity. Arse covering. Ego.
This from the country that has imprinted on it's NYC subway tokens the words 'In God We Trust'.
Climate change bought the event. A refusal to acknowledge the impact of climate change on our environment (more than just eco-systems) and that global warming and the Greenhouse Effect are directly relative to climate change.
It was up to the people who knew it was coming to respond appropriately, and with the ultimate goal to preserve lives.
America was first to put a man on the moon, yet co-ordinating a humane disaster recovery plan for the most severe storm in history rendered a city lawless and plunged it into rioting and chaos for many weeks following.
I don't think it was a reasoned choice for those that did to remain behind. Those who did so were not able to afford to leave, they couldn't afford the fuel to get out, others were too ill to, some were unwilling to entrust their few possessions to the most savage hurricane ever predicted.
How was it so that inmates were evacuated to the lower floor of a hotels' parking lot and left for dead as floodwaters rose when the jailkeepers decided it was better to save themselves?
Where was help when hospitals were being looted and doctors and nurses threatened at gunpoint for narcotics, food and medical supplies?
Why were marine corps relegated to duties such as looking after government officials animals in safety shelters after they refused orders remain grounded, and flew out in helicopters on rescue missions?
And the most-asked question of the day - where WERE the buses?
Night after night I watched the news. I shed tears of true grief for those down on their knees begging for help.
The story of the Australian Backpackers in the wrong place at the wrong time (bailed up in the mutiny at the superdome - threatened with their lives if they tried to leave) sent a chill through my heart.
This story has every element of the worst of human behaviour, and every ingredient required to make it so and yet still the small gems of stories of bravery, heroism, compassion, of purity and charity of spirit refuse to be sunk in the filthy waters still lapping at higher ground in New Orleans.
It was these stories that gave me hope. I wish that hope alone were to be enough.
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