Untitled [New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, 2005] Possibly 2005 - 2010

This photograph, *Untitled [New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, 2005]*, was taken by Richard Misrach in 2005. It's a picture of a wall, wood planks with a message scrawled in ghostly blue chalk: "Resign Bush!!!" Misrach doesn’t seem to be interested in concealing the process, or in virtuosity, but is interested in just showing what is. The textures are raw; you can see the grain of the wood, the drips of old paint. Look at that ghostly writing. The "Resign Bush!!!" pops out, so fragile, so ephemeral, almost disappearing into the weathered wood. It's a cry of frustration, a political yell, but also a kind of visual poetry. This photograph reminds me a little of work by Gordon Matta-Clark, who worked with existing structures, carving them up, revealing their insides. There’s something similar here: a slice of reality, unvarnished, a statement, and an exposure, all at once. Like all good art, it asks more questions than it answers.