Reflecting on the “Michael” Art Exhibit

Looking back on Hurricane Michael

Allow me to start off by saying that reflecting on a natural disaster hasn’t come naturally to me even one year after Hurricane Michael.

Until October 10, 2018, I had only dealt with heavy rain and branches in front of the family home. The hurricane changed all of that, and not necessarily for the better. Driving into town in bumper-to-bumper traffic after being in the dark was awe inspiring. It was like something out of a post-apocalyptic novel or video game.

Besides the structural damage, I was floored by the way trees had bent and snapped during the event. The aftermath was akin to footage seen on the news, or dramatized in TV shows and movies. It was not something I thought I would ever experience for myself.

One year later, the path to recovery for the panhandle is well under way, though not without its share of hardships. 

The “Michael” Art Exhibit

Local artists inspired by the hurricane have come forward after months of planning to present the “Michael” art exhibit at the Amelia Center Main Gallery which recently opened on October 11. It’s hard to think of anything more somber than walking through an exhibit dedicated to something that one has gone through and experienced first hand.

There is something surreal to this modest exhibit that takes you back in time, briefly plucking you from a city in the midst of recovery, to a time when things were at their worst. However, there is also a sense of hope that one can grasp for in the middle of it all. That despite all of the destruction and the negative feelings it inspired back then, there is hope for a brighter future.

The dark tempest came and went, and though many are gone, there were many more of us left behind to pick up the pieces. With time, we will be able to put them back together again. Someday we will have it all back. We will be able to smile again, and be stronger than ever before.

The “Michael” Art Exhibit will be open to the public at the Amelia Center Main Gallery (Room 112) on the Gulf Coast Campus from October 11 – November 8, Monday through Thursday from 10 am to 6 pm, and on Fridays from 10 am to 4 pm.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR