This diptych by New Orleans photographer Gus Bennett features model Heavenly Johnson in two portraits that weave personal memory with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The first panel, photographed before the storm, incorporates textures from fabric and pecan leaves, which were arranged to suggest a single angel wing and halo. The second panel was reinterpreted while Bennett was displaced in Houston. In it, Johnson appears to hold an African artwork, a symbol of survival and memory, digitally placed into her hand while Bennett listened to Billie Holiday’s “Hush Now Don’t Explain.” Both images derive their rich, layered colors from scanned dead leaves stacked to create smooth transitions, capturing the paradoxical beauty of decay. Johnson’s name, inspired by the Heavenly Floral Company, heightens the symbolism of an angel set against debris and renewal. The diptych becomes both a record of loss and a meditation on resilience, memory, and the fragile beauty of transformation. (Photos by Gus Bennett)
