Flood-Damaged Belongings Make Heart-Wrenching Exhibit on Display as Inaugural Exhibit for Emerging Arts Center

CINCINNATI, OH [August 1, 2008] — Commemorating the third anniversary of the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, the Clifton Cultural Arts Center (CCAC) announces Floodwall, a site-specific, multi-media exhibit composed of more than 350 household drawers salvaged from discarded furniture in the neighborhoods flooded in New Orleans in 2005. Over one million visitors have seen Floodwall in previous installations in New York, Baton Rouge and Austin, Texas.

Floodwall, presented by Tide, will debut on the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and will be on display at the CCAC in the 1906 Clifton School building, 3711 Clifton Avenue, from August 28 through September 14, 2008. Floodwall will exhibit Thursdays (4 – 8 p.m.), Fridays and Saturdays (noon – 7 p.m.), and Sundays (noon – 5 p.m.) to the public. Schools and other organizations are welcome to arrange a tour Monday-Wednesday by appointment. Suggested donation for admission is $5 per person. Fifty percent of the donations will directly benefit New Orleans relief and YA/YA, Inc. Please note: under redevelopment, CCAC is not currently wheelchair accessible.

Created by New Orleans artist Jana Napoli, Floodwall preserves a small part of what the levees could not. Moved to action by the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, Napoli collected hundreds of drawers from the flooded and abandoned neighborhoods in the days and months that followed. “We were driven to create a wailing wall that builds intimate and homely detritus from a world destroyed into a wrenching cry of grief,” said Jana Napoli. “This emotional endeavor quickly grew into a sculptural and historical work allowing the people of New Orleans to tell their own story about what they value and why.”

This nationally-acclaimed exhibit premiered in January 2007 in New York City at the World Financial Center Liberty Street Bridge receiving critical praise in the New York Times, The Boston Globe and Wall Street Journal. Floodwall also displayed at the Louisiana State Museum in Baton Rouge from July to September 2007 and the Blanton museum of Art at the University of Texas at Austin from February to May 2008. Floodwall was created in partnership with Rondell Crier, Executive Director of YA/YA, an acclaimed, New Orleans-based youth arts collective, and Whirlwind Creative, a New York-based multi-disciplinary studio specializing in the design of graphics, interactive media and environments. The collected drawers were mounted as a massive wall standing eight feet tall and 96 feet long.

The CCAC is a creative endeavor of dedicated citizens started in 2004 to develop a 57,000 sq. ft multi-venue, regional arts center in the heart of Clifton. The CCAC brings Floodwall to Cincinnati through a partnership with Tide’s Loads of Hope™ initiative and other charitable sponsors. Tide’s Loads of Hope™ initiative began with Tide CleanStartSM, a mobile laundromat created to provide free laundry services to families in need. During the past three years, Tide has devoted considerable time and energy to renew a sense of hope to New Orleans residents affected by Hurricane Katrina.

The exhibit’s other primary sponsor, Strata-G Communications, is a strategic, integrated marketing communications agency based in downtown Cincinnati.

For more information, call 513.497.2860 or visit www.cliftonculturalarts.org.