Author Night at Latter Library: Cheryl Gerber

The Danse Macabre: Celebration and Survival in New Orleans

In this street-level tableau of New Orleans culture, photographer Cheryl Gerber portrays the city’s rich and famous while paying homage to the everyday people who make life special in her hometown.

New Orleans is a city of contradictions: comic and tragic, sacred and secular, profound and profane; steeped heavily in tradition and religion yet drenched in decadence and debauchery. The Danse Macabre reveals the city’s rebellious and humorous spirit, which celebrates life in the face of disaster and death.

In this street-level tableau of New Orleans culture, photographer Cheryl Gerber portrays the city’s rich and famous while paying homage to the everyday people who make life so special in her hometown. Colorful shots of Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest, second lines, and other iconic arrays of New Orleans culture are juxtaposed with images of the homelessness, crime, and racism that are equally central to life in the Crescent City. Within these pages we find Southern Decadence revelers clashing with religious protesters, Catholic traditions merging with Voodoo, and New Orleanians from all walks of life expressing themselves through satire and parody. In short, we witness the city not only as a backdrop to cataclysmic confrontations, but also as a force that rouses them.

Cheryl Gerber is an award-winning documentary photographer and New Orleans native. She has been a regular contributor to the New York Times, the Associated Press, New Orleans Magazine, and Gambit for more than twenty-five years. She is the author of New Orleans: Life and Death in the Big Easy and Cherchez la Femme: New Orleans Women.

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