In the weeks following Hurricane Katrina, volunteers streamed into the gulfcoast region to begin the long process of recovery and rebuilding. Santa Barbara photographer Keith Fishman traveled to the area photographing Red Cross relief activities in seven Mississippi counties. "Silent Witness" features forty of these poignant photographs. The exhibition will premier at The Arts Fund Gallery with opening reception and benefit sale on Saturday April 1, 2006, from 3:00 - 5:00 PM. Limited-edition photographic prints from the exhibition will be available for sale, with all proceeds benefiting charities in Mississippi. The exhibition will remain on view through May 5, 2006, and will then travel to the University of Southern Mississippi Museum of Art.

God Bless The Coast, 2005

Fishman's photographs are not intended as photojournalism. Rather, the images in "Silent Witness" retain the aesthetic sensibility the artist has honed over the course of a thirty-year career as a fine art photographer. Sparse and quietly reflective, his work frequently carries the subtle shock of a personal revelation. His portraits of individuals and families are mesmerizing and call upon the viewer's human response. Who are these people? What has happened and how are they now? This same impulse to find a narrative is elicited by his un-peopled scenes of remnants of urban landscapes. In one surreal image, a plaster Humpty Dumpty resting securely, unscathed, on a cinder block wall surrounded by the leveled remains of an amusement park. At the Copa Casino in Gulfport, Fishman found the outer wall of the building stripped away. Inside the exposed interior, a gilt statue of King Neptune looks commandingly out at the ocean. Parked at a nearby railroad crossing, in the middle of downtown, is a sailboat named, ironically enough, "Endorphin." Through these unexpected bits of storm-induced reordering, Fishman transfers some sense of the gallows humor he found in many of the survivors. "One begins to joke about everything," he recalls describing his conversations with locals. "Humor becomes the bandage that somehow heals this unbelievable insanity."

Endorphin, Gulfport, 2005

As an individual, Fishman found the experience deeply transformative. "I came to Mississippi without any idea of what I was to find. I brought my cameras, but I really went there to help.. Ultimately, they gave me much more than I could ever have given them. They have forever renewed my faith in the human spirit." "Silent Witness" shares Fishman's moving experiences with viewers. By donating proceeds from the sale of prints, Fishman invites viewers to join in helping the men and women he describes as "the real heroes in this unfolding drama." Fishman's photographs of the Katrina aftermath are featured in the March/April issue of Black and White Magazine.

Had No Great Fall, 2005