SOUTHERLY GOLD

Formed in 2011, Southerly Gold worked for ten years as an ensemble of three New Orleans based photographers; Aubrey Edwards, Ariya Martin, and myself- Elena Ricci.

Collectively our work explored the complicated narratives and exploitative histories embedded in the southern landscape. Our numerous projects continuously examined how landscape has the power to define identity, and how identity of place is tied to the land itself.

Over the course of ten years, Southerly Gold ventured across the state of Louisiana creating a record of place, of stories stumbled upon, and a documentation of relics accessible to any wandering traveler or curious eye. Our bodies of work are an ode to the region: to the industry and resources that are beholden to the land, to the people and places that have suffered and sacrificed in the name of prosperity, to the complex identity of place that arises in the intermingling of potential versus reality.

Whether observing a sweeping vista or the minutia of found and discarded objects, certain questions remain visually rooted in this work: What has the land provided for people? How has industry shaped the landscape and informed identity? What has been lost in the name of “progress”?