On the Batture

On the Batture” Part documentary, part fairy tale, “On the Batture” is an exploration of the no-man’s land between the Mississippi River and its levees. The batture is ephemeral. It ebbs, flows, and reforms, controlled only by the whims of the river. Sometimes under water, sometimes choked by vines and dense undergrowth, the batture is a transitional space fluctuating with the Mississippi River’s powerful pulse. This project began with a walk over the levee at a friend’s house. Stepping across the crown of the levee, I entered a different world. I was immediately engulfed by the powerful mystery and primal energy in this ribbon of wild land. The batture is separated from highways and urban life by the mere hundred foot wide ribbon of levee between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. It is bound on the other side by a half mile wide shipping artery for ocean-going vessels. But on the batture itself, elemental forces of nature reign. Like fairy tales, which have one foot in reality and one in magical realms, these pictures revisit a time and place when, as in childhood, magic and reality can converge. My exploration of the batture focuses on those moments of convergence, when our preconceptions are fluid enough, child-like enough, to allow us to revisit the magical realms in the landscape of reality.