This is Art. Happening.

This was a completely different project than what I normally do. I looked forward to getting out of my lonely studio for a change. I think I almost got sick from human contact!
I wanted to be spontaneous. I made a few calls trying to see who knows who that I can talk to in Fargo/Moorhead area. Two days later, nothing was concrete but I drove down anyway just to see what will happen and was prepared to knock on doors if I had to. On the drive there, everything fell in place and before I knew it, I had a couple of really good contacts lined up. I didn’t have any expectations but was really pleasantly surprised to meet quiet a few people and have people so openly share their experiences.
This took place on April-8, about a week after the 112 year record breaking flood as people anticipated a 2nd major flood on the way by Easter. I got into Moorhead at about 11:45. A friend’s friend was in the middle of packing frantically preparing for the next flood. She happens to be right on the Red River. Her dike had over 8000 sandbags and it took over 2500 hours with 50 people at one point. The forecast of the flood level at that time was supposed to be 43ft, 2ft higher than the last one. She planned on adding even more bags. I took a little bit of spilled sand from her dike to make a portrait of her crossing her fingers. I wanted this project to end on hope. Click here to watch the video.
Next stop, Fargo, where I met with a friend’s parents who gave me a tour around Fargo and some of the hit areas. I saw a sign at where a golf course that is submerged in water said “Irrigated by the Red River”. HA! We also stopped by the convention center where all the hard labor of bagging sand starts. Never seen so many sandbags, ever!
My last stop was about 20minutes north of Fargo, out in the country where some folks had to take a boat to get out of their houses. Before coming here, I thought folks in the country have less help compared to the city. I realized right away that wasn’t the case. They work as a team and no one is left behind. We gathered around and everyone seemed to enjoy sharing their flood stories with us, as there have been a few over the years. The most emotional stuff came out when the camera was off. One couple got really choked up when they described the experience of almost losing their house. At the end, for as much trouble as these people have dealt through, their laughter dominated the night.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 23rd, 2009 at 4:14 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.