Michelle L. Elmore YA HEARD ME

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Michelle L. Elmore YA HEARD ME

$60.00

LIMITED EDITION

“I started visiting New Orleans barbershops on Friday afternoons. Many of the subjects in my monograph “Ya Heard Me” were Gangsta’ Rap artists. I began documenting their day-to-day lifestyles in the neighborhoods they were from. In the two years leading up to Hurricane Katrina, I shot thousands of photographs of these young people. I realized the moniker “soldiers” by which they refer to themselves was not an affectation. The average life expectancy in this demographic is 25 years. They speak, live and interact with an urgency that I would imagine exists on battlefields. I have personally witnessed over 50 shootings. One day, one of my subjects was shot through the chest. The bullet passed through his body, missing both his heart and spine by fractions of an inch. Apparently, the slug was so hot that it cauterized the wound on the way through and it didn’t bleed. He went home to lie down for a few hours and was back on the street the next day.” - Michelle L. Elmore

“Ya Heard Me,” the third collection in Elmore’s New Orleans trilogy, contains the most recent of her New Orleans photographs. These focus on a rap and bounce scene that extends a rhythmic revolution which began more than a century ago in New Orleans and defines anew the beat for this country’s cutting edge. Elmore focuses squarely on the grills of gold teeth these rappers and bounce artists flash - outlandish and defiant declarations of style within a hostile and threatened environment." - Larry Blumenfeld of the Wall Street Journal

Ya Heard Me (slang) means "Do You Understand Me"? When a person from New Orleans is telling somebody something they usually say ‘Ya Heard Me’ at the end of the statement. Michelle L. Elmore’s ‘Ya Heard Me’ pays homage to the resilient, wondrous and soulful people of New Orleans. Many of the portraits in this book are captured during get togethers and or celebrations in or around the now defunct Lafitte Projects where regular folk and local celebrities celebrated friendship, life and community. Included on the pages of this book: Rapper Juvenile, Producer/DJ Manny Fresh, Boxer Roy Jones Jr, Trumpeter Kermit Ruffins and Trombone Shorty to mention a few. New Orleans is one of the most written about and photographed cities in America because of the people and culture exude the spirit, humaneness and charm that makes New Orleans the most unique city in America.

Michelle L. Elmore’s ‘Ya Heard Me’ is evidence that there was life before the storm. A majority of New Orleans natives have painful memories having survived Hurricane Katrina. What’s notable, was the pride, admiration and love the residents of New Orleans have for their city to Restore, Rebuild and Renew. Ya Heard Me represents a feeling of oneness that resonates with their collective essence and true meaning of life. To survive the ordeal of Hurricane Katrina and still call New Orleans home and themselves New Orleanians.

Michelle L. Elmore’s ‘Ya Heard Me’ is the third collection in Elmore’s New Orleans trilogy, containing the most recent of her New Orleans photographs. These images focus on a rap and bounce scene that extends a rhythmic revolution which began more than a century ago in New Orleans and defines anew the beat for this country’s cutting edge. Elmore focuses on grills of gold teeth, cowboys, rappers, gangsters, DJ’s, hot boys, and regular neighborhood folk with rapper and bounce artist flash— outlandish and defiant declarations of style within a hostile and threatened environment.

Michelle L. Elmore’s ‘Ya Heard Me’ embodies the nostalgia of Billie Holiday’s ‘Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans’. “Do you know what it means, To miss New Orleans, And miss it each night and day, I know I'm not wrong, The feeling's getting stronger, The longer I stay away, Miss the moist covered vines, The tall sugar pines, Where mocking birds used to sing, And I'd like to see the lazy Mississippi, A hurrying into spring, The Mardi Gras memories, Of creole tunes that filled the air, I dream of oleanders in June, And soon I'm wishing that I was there, Do you know what it means, To miss New Orleans, When that's where you left your heart, And there's something more, I miss the one I care for, More than I miss New Orleans.” This monograph appeals to a wide demographic of people Worldwide who know what it means to miss New Orleans and will be a sense of comfort to homesick friends and family.

Delivery Time: 3-5 Days (USPS)

Return Policy: 14 Days

Shipping USA: Free w/ Sale

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