Like many residents of western North Carolina, my family lived through Hurricane Helene, a “once-in-a-thousand-years” storm that left a trail of death, destruction, and heartbreak. My immediate family was fortunate: we are all physically unharmed, and our home is untouched.
Once we had settled into the new post-Helene normal, I felt called to venture into Asheville’s beloved River Arts District to document the storm’s aftermath. I wanted to honor the artisans, artists, and small-business owners who have poured their souls into this vibrant, creative community. The scale of the devastation and the sheer power of wind and water and mud were almost beyond comprehension.
Amid the chaos, I found myself drawn to small, intimate vignettes, or to the artists themselves, who were excavating like miners to recover any piece of their livelihood. There was a grotesque beauty in how the flood had rearranged everything—a theater of the absurd, macabre and surreal. It was a raw reminder of the unpredictable forces of nature, intensified by the undeniable impacts of climate change.
—Brody Hartman
