A Must See Photo Exhibit

Visual Story of the Lower Mississippi River Delta

The Port of New Orleans will host an exhibit “The End of the Great River: Photographs of the Lower Mississippi River Delta” December 1st through 18th featuring the work of New Orleans-based photographer Matthew White.

The showing of White's work will consist of fine art landscape images of the Mississippi River Delta, from Port Sulphur in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana south to the end of the three passes that drain the river into the Gulf of Mexico: Pass a Loutre; South Pass and Southwest Pass.


This delta-full of history, culture, and industry-is sparsely populated and rarely seen in detail by outsiders, but is a landscape of vast beauty.


Lower Plaquemines Parish was decimated by Hurricane Katrina, and has quite a long history of fighting coastal erosion with other notable storms of the past. The goal of this photo collection is to raise awareness for the unique beauty of this fragile locale through an artist’s eye and to encourage the creation and preservation of images of the Mississippi River Delta and its disappearing habitat for future generations.

Photography for the project began in the spring of 2000, shot on both black and white film and in color digital and has continued to the present day. In this collection, White has shot nearly every named location in lower Plaquemines Parish and has compiled a sizable collection of documentary-style often contemplative photographs of the most remote areas of the parish.

One such location is Pilottown, where the Crescent River Port Pilots’ Association has maintained an outpost for piloting ships for the last 100 years. After it was almost destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, White returned in April 2008 to photograph this one-of-a-kind town, the last manned outpost on the Mississippi River before you reach the Gulf of Mexico. He was able to document a few pilot houses that were being rebuilt, while the remainder of former homes along the river completely vanished.

To see previews of this exhibit, go to this link.

About Matthew White

Matthew White Grand Isle Juried Art Exhibit, The New Orleans Photo Alliance Elemental/Environmental Space Exhibit, and as part of a permanent museum exhibit for Parks Canada in New Brunswick. White is represented by Big Vision Media (www.bigvisionmedia.com).


Sponsored in part by Plaquemines Parish Economic Development, the exhibit is being held in conjunction with PhotoNOLA, an annual showcase of photography in New Orleans. The exhibit is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm in the lobby of the administrative building at the Port of New Orleans. A reception will be held on December 10, 2009 from 4:00 to 6:00 pm and the public is invited to attend.