Eric Waters

“In other places, culture comes from up high. In New Orleans, culture bubbles up from the streets,” was a profound statement by Ellis Marsalis. Ellis Marsalis’ words remind us that here, culture isn’t curated—it’s created, every day, in the heartbeats of the streets. This powerful insight from him captures the soul of our city, where culture is not imposed but lived, breathed and born in everyday life.

I strive to be a “Memory Keeper” who “Bears Witness” to a Culture steeped in African-American mores, to give vision, awareness and respect to its people. Assuring its sustainability.

Elis Marsalis was on WWOZ radio in 1998 urging Black artists to participate in “The Great Day in New Orleans’ photo.” He stated that, “No one can say that we were a rumor.” This is my quest to capture a people in that moment of time when we existed. Exploring what is to validate what has been.

My mentor was Marion J. Porter, New Orleans’ own, along with Gordon Parks, Van der Zee and Moneta Sleet. He did what I aspire to do. I want to continue his path. A cultural quilt is what I want to create. A visual quilt of images that will meld all of the African-Retentive Cultures of New Orleans.

Eric Waters has been a professional photographer for more than 30 years. He studied under the tutelage of the late Marion Porter, a well-known and respected Black New Orleans photographer and owner of Porter’s Photo News. Waters is best known for capturing the vibrant and energetic scenes of the Second Line and the New Orleans Mardi Gras Indians. He is one of few photographers with the “insider’s view” of what makes this culture come alive. Waters’ work has appeared on album covers for jazz artists such as Bob French, Victor Goins, Juanita Brooks, Dr. Michael White and Smokey Johnson. He was the lead photographer for projects like Ties That Bind, an exhibit and catalog sponsored by the Casey Foundation, and Great Day in New Orleans, a group photo capturing 283 New Orleans African-American artists of all genres.

In 1985, he founded Ebonimages, a nonprofit organization, to catalog and exhibit the collection of Marion Porter. The organization is dedicated to documenting African-American culture in New Orleans, especially jazz musicians, Black Mardi Gras Indians, Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs, Second Line parades, jazz funerals and other social events. He is a co-organizer of Seeing Black, a multimedia, research-based project chronicling and celebrating the history, influence, performance aesthetic and futurity of Black photography in New Orleans

He was a 2019 Joan Mitchell Center Resident and has work in the collections of the New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans African American Museum, Clark Atlanta University and numerous private collections.