Eric Waters Exhibit To Open April 4, 2019

Image: Leonard ‘Squirky Man’ Hunter by Eric Waters

The New Orleans Jazz Museum Presents

PURPOSE AND PASSION: PHOTOGRAPHY BY ERIC WATERS

New Exhibition Chronicling the Career of New Orleans Native Photographer Eric Waters to Debut April 4, 2019

NEW ORLEANS (March 26, 2019) — The New Orleans Jazz Museum will debut a new exhibition, Purpose and Passion: Photography by Eric Waters on April 4, 2019. From 6:00pm to 8:00pm, the opening reception will feature a live performance by Carl LeBlanc & the Big Easy Street Band, cash bar, and food from local vendors. The reception is free and open to the public.

Eric Waters studied under the late New Orleans Photojournalist Marion Porter and has been a professional photographer for more than 40 years. In 1985 he founded Ebonimages, a non-profit organization, to catalog and exhibit the collection of Marion Porter’s Photo News.

Waters decided early in his career that New Orleans street culture had significant historical value and was extremely worthy of documentation. Through his relationship with Porter, he was taught to see the world around him in a way that he had not noticed before.

“A cultural quilt is what I want to create, a visual quilt of images that will meld all of the African-Retentive Cultures of New Orleans,” says Waters. “I strive to be a “Memory Keeper’ who “Bears Witness” to a Culture steeped in African-American mores, to give vision, awareness, and respect to its people.”

Waters’ work has appeared on CD covers for Jazz artists such as Bob French, Victor Goins, Juanita Brooks, and Smokey Johnson. His vibrant and energetic scenes of second lines and Mardi Gras Indians have also appeared in local and national magazines, newspapers, brochures, and show bills.