Throughout our recovery a number of people have started to find ways to rise up through the hardships of rebuilding and the sadness of devastation. Michael Dingler is doing this via a public art project he started last year that he is recording via his blog and Flickr. I found out about his project via my daily 'New Orleans' tag search on Flickr and an invite to our Blogging New Orleans Flickr pool (you too can join). He says he began this project as:

[An] idea [that] was spawned from two different ideas that I have opted to merge. The first was a photo I had taken last year of a building that was on the corner of Tchoupitoulas and Napoleon. Someone, presumably the owner or tenant, spray-painted "NOLA RISING" on the building. The photo ended up being great and has become a maxim of mine (if a thought behind an idea can imply the totality of a maxim). Second was a group of paintings that someone had strung up in the Marigny on a huge electrical pole.

Dingler started creating his own simple works of art and posting them in public places around the city. Each image is recorded and uploaded for the world to share and the slogan in all the pieces serves as a sort of 'New Orleans Power' fist. We are rising up and rebuilding and finding personal strength in our power. Now if this project could just spread around the country and the world a little... I would love to see a hand drawn NOLA Rising crayon written image on the steps of the Capitol or chalked into the streets of New York or attached to an electronic sign in Boston...

Check out the full project set on Flickr.

What's going on here? Why am I posting so much? Today, in honor of Katrina I am attempting another 24 hour 24 post blogathon.

Image of In chalk by dingler1109 posted in the Blogging New Orleans Flickr pool.