Save the Date

Friday, June 12, 2009
7:00 PM – 9:30 PM

Seattle Psychoanalytic Society and Institute
Presents the Sixth in a Series

Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Visual Art: The Aesthetics of Catastrophe; Hurricane Katrina
Photographs by Aric Mayer with Poetry by Rebecca Meredith

“Going into New Orleans, I carried with me the knowledge that I was entering someone else's city and that I had a responsibility to do something there that might be of value long after the immediate crisis had stabilized. My goal was to create a large body of photographs that crossed the city, carrying the viewer directly into this apocalyptic landscape. Only here, instead of explosions and fire, the more usual metaphors of destruction, this was an apocalypse of water, which is a very different thing. Throughout Western history, water has been a symbol of the unconscious, of the indwelling unrecognized forces and agencies that operate beneath the surface of our conscious lives. This is a fitting metaphor, for we are still untangling and discovering the unseen political and social influences that contributed to the disaster.”

Aric Mayer, from Aesthetics of Catastrophe, Public Culture v 20.2, Duke University

Aric Mayer is a Kenyan born US based artist and filmmaker. He was the main photographer covering Hurricane Katrina for the Wall Street Journal. Mayer's post-Katrina landscapes were exhibited in a solo exhibition at Gallery Bienvenu in New Orleans to commemorate the first anniversary of the storm, and have been published in numerous journals and magazines. He is a member of the board of directors of the Seattle Psychoanalytic Society and Institute.

Rebecca Meredith is a senior clinical associate at SPSI. Her poems about the effects of Hurricane Katrina on the area in which she grew up, the Mississippi Gulf Coast and New Orleans, have appeared in print in numerous literary magazines and anthologies.


ARTIST: Aric Mayer, M.F.A.
POET: Rebecca Meredith, M.A.
DISCUSSANT: Susan Radant, Ph.D.

PROGRAM: Wine and cheese social, 7:00 – 7:30 PM; presentation, 7:30 – 9:30 PM

LOCATION: Seattle Psychoanalytic Society & Institute. For details, please register to reserve your place.

REGISTRATION: Space is limited; early registration is strongly encouraged. Please RSVP to SPSI in care of Susan Radant, Ph.D., (206) 282-2382, or by email at sradant@u.washington.edu. Please include your phone number and email address.

· For more information about Aric Mayer, please visit: http://aricmayerstudios.com/
· For more information about the Seattle Psychoanalytic Society and Institute: www.spsi.org