DO NOT OPEN

When the floodwaters that swamped metropolitan New Orleans finally receded in September 2005, the post-Hurricane Katrina recovery work began. One of the most common sights during this period was that of the discarded home refrigerator, perched on the curb and ready for disposal. Months later, thousands upon thousands of ruined refrigerators still awaited pick-up, many bearing messages that had been scribbled with markers or blurted with spray paint. These messages, rendered by owners and passers-by alike, ranged from the practical to the sentimental, the angry to the darkly humorous. This book presents the communiques that transformed appliances into message boards, and explores the post-disaster environment that inspired their creation. It features hundreds of black-and-white photographs of the marked refrigerators, along with additional photographs of post-Katrina New Orleans.