Identifier
etd-06032014-155229
Degree
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Department
Art
Document Type
Thesis
Abstract
This document seeks to establish a contemporary record of the nineteenth-century masonry fortifications of the Third System whose continued existence in Southeastern Louisiana is in peril. Designed and implemented in the years following the invasion of Washington, D.C. during the War of 1812 by Napoleon Bonaparte’s chief engineer, Louisiana’s coastal forts represent the pinnacle of European, pre-modern-warfare military architecture. With their obsolescence secured by advances in technology in the mid to late nineteenth century, each was abandoned or decommissioned following the American Civil War. These historic constructed spaces that are each uniquely adapted to the land they occupy have never been formally or comprehensively photographed, though they have existed in varying states of ruin and decay for well over a century. Continued hurricane damage, neglect, lack of funding and public disinterest contribute to their impending non-existence. The series Danger Shelter Opportunity endeavors to preserve the physical appearance of these places and the nature of their entropy through photography.
Date
2014
Document Availability at the Time of Submission
Release the entire work immediately for access worldwide.
Recommended Citation
Osborne, IV, James F., "Danger Shelter Opportunity: The Coastal Fortifications of Nineteenth Century Louisiana" (2014). LSU Master's Theses. 882.
https://repository.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses/882
Committee Chair
Thompson, Kristine
DOI
10.31390/gradschool_theses.882