This is the second story in our series chronicling the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
On the first night of Essence Fest, Paper Machine, an artist space in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward, came alive with creativity and community. Inside a sunlit room, Lauryn Hinton gathered neighbors around long tables scattered with scissors, glossy magazines, and piles of vibrant, textured paper.
Hinton, a 24-year-old Baton Rouge, Louisiana, native who has lived in New Orleans since 2018, organized the space for Black art making to educate residents about the ways collaging has been used in the community dating back to slavery. Laughter and conversation filled the room, as participants — ranging from their early 20s to their 70s — flipped through magazines, searching for images and words that spoke to them…