Jeff Louviere and his wife, Vanessa, are the New Orleans-based photography duo that comprises Louviere+Vanessa. A native of New Orleans, Jeff graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Vanessa began photographing at age 12 and won a Kodak International Award of Excellence at age seventeen. She received a degree in photography from the Rochester Institute of Technology. Their first artistic collaboration, in 1998, was a series of tableauxs created to resemble New Orleans crime scenes. Their unique artwork combines the mediums and nuances of film, photography, painting and printmaking. Since they began professionally showing in 2004, their work has appeared in 40 exhibits and film festivals, including the Potsdam International Film Festival (Germany), George Eastman House, the Photomedia Center, and the Tribeca Film Festival.

Artist Statement: This photo is from the bamboo series that was made on the island in Southern Louisiana where Tabasco Sauce is produced. Avery Island’s Jungle Gardens is like a land of the lost, the island itself is made of salt and everything there is wild and larger than life. The bamboo is one of the first of its kind to be grown in the United States and is now in danger as a result of the extensive damage caused by Hurricane Katrina. This image was commissioned by George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film for “Heroes of Horticulture,” an exhibition of original photography produced as part of the Cultural Landscape Foundation’s 2007 Landslide initiative of the same title.