Stephen Hilger

Back of Town, 2008 – 2012
Archival inkjet prints
12.5 by 17 inches

Tulane Avenue, South Rocheblave Street, Canal Street, and the I-10. The locale “back of town” didn’t have defined boundaries until it was marked for demolition after Hurricane Katrina. South Galvez Street bisects the middle. The place also didn’t have a name, but once it started to disappear, the newspapers began to call it “Lower Mid-City.” Each day I photographed there, things looked a little different. Then, over time, things looked much more different each day. There is a distance to this place. The architecture, the signs, the inhabitants all seem far away. There goes the neighborhood.

— Stephen Hilger