Whereas Michael P. Smith was an award-winning photographer
nationally recognized for his work over 4 decades documenting the music,
culture, and folklife of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana;
Whereas Michael P. Smith greatly influenced the
understanding of New Orleans and Louisiana of people around the world;
Whereas Michael P. Smith’s work captured and made
accessible the environment, social structures, and neighborhoods that both
create and sustain the musical traditions of New Orleans;
Whereas Michael P. Smith was born in Metairie, Louisiana,
the son of a member of the Rex organization and the Boston Club, was a star
athlete, and graduated from Metairie Park Country Day School and Tulane
University;
Whereas Michael P. Smith was the only person to photograph
at every New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival since the festival began in
1970 until his retirement in 2004, when he was honored with a major grandstand
exhibition and photo kiosks placed around the fairgrounds at the
festival;
Whereas Michael P. Smith received 2 Photographer's
Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts early in his career and
his prints have toured worldwide through the United States Information Agency
(USIA);
Whereas Michael P. Smith’s work has been presented at the
National Museum of American History, the International Center for Photography
in New York, and the LeRoy Neiman Gallery at Columbia University, as well as
numerous other museums, galleries, and jazz festivals in America and
Europe;
Whereas Michael P. Smith’s work is part of the permanent
collections of the National Museum of American History in Washington, DC, the
Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris,
the Louisiana State Museum, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, and the New
Orleans Museum of Art;
Whereas Michael P. Smith’s work is represented in 5
photography books including Spirit World: Pattern in the Expressive Folk
Culture of African-American New Orleans
, A Joyful Noise: A
Celebration of New Orleans Music
, New Orleans Jazz Fest: A
Pictorial History
, Jazz Fest Memories
, and Mardi
Gras Indians
, which is a visual and sociological history of the unique
masking and musical traditions still alive in the older Black neighborhoods of
New Orleans;
Whereas Michael P. Smith’s photographs grace the covers of
many compact discs and record albums, illustrate numerous books and magazine
articles published in America and Europe, and are in continual demand for
documentary films produced at home and abroad;
Whereas Michael P. Smith won numerous awards for his work,
including the 2002 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Louisiana Endowment for
the Humanities, the (New Orleans) Mayor's Arts Award, the Clarence John
Laughlin Lifetime Achievement Award from the New Orleans chapter of the
American Society of Magazine Photographers, and the Artist Recognition Award
from the New Orleans Museum of Arts's Delgado Society;
Whereas Michael P. Smith was an original owner and a
founder of Tipitina’s, the iconic club that has featured, and continues to
feature, the best and brightest of New Orleans music; and
Whereas Michael P. Smith is survived by a companion, Karen
Louise Snyder, 2 daughters, Jan Lamberton Smith of Quail Springs, California,
and Leslie Blackshear Smith of New Orleans, a brother, Joseph Byrd Hatchitt
Smith of Port Angeles, Washington, and 2 grandchildren: Now, therefore, be
it
That the Senate—
(1)honors the life
of Michael P. Smith;
(2)recognizes
Michael P. Smith for his invaluable contributions as a cultural archivist of
New Orleans and Louisiana history and culture;
(3)recommits itself
to ensuring that artists such as Michael P. Smith receive recognition for their
creative and cultural endeavors; and
(4)extends
condolences to his family on the death of this talented and beloved man.