In a 2011 video from SFMOMA, Richard Misrach talks about photographing in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, making the work that eventually became his 2010 book Destroy This Memory. In the months after the storm, Misrach traveled to New Orleans and used a large format film camera to record what he saw. He also brought a 4-megapixel digital camera, which he intended to use to make notes. Misrach recalls printing the digital images, and finding that he had about 2,000 photographs, many of which included graffiti messages left behind by those who had fled. Misrach describes how the book evolved as he came to see the narrative forms in the writing left on homes, cars, and other damaged objects.
