Carol Guzy had planned to be a nurse when she first came to Northampton Community College from Liberty High School, and, in fact, she did earn her degree in that field in 1977. But it was a photography class she took as a student here that set her feet on the path that would eventually lead her back to NCC on Thursday, January 24, to open an exhibition of her extraordinary and moving photographs titled “Silent Souls: Katrina’s Animals.”

The three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist returned to her alma mater to meet with journalism students and deliver a lecture and slide show retrospective of her work before an opening reception in the Gallery of Communications Hall. The exhibition includes 103 Katrina photographs in the Gallery and College Center that depict – in often heartbreaking detail – the devastation wreaked upon New Orleans’ animal population.

Guzy began her day at NCC in the Gallery with journalism students in Robert Hays’ newswriting class (below). The students were delighted when she arrived with her entourage – two people-friendly dogs named Gracie and Trixie (pictured above). Gracie is a six-month old shelter-rescue dog of unknown lineage. Trixie is a sweet and unlikely mix of pug and mastiff, born with birth defects right after Katrina struck. “They thought she was a quadriplegic,” Guzy told the students. “If she’d gone to one of the New Orleans animal shelters, she would almost certainly have been euthanized.” As it was, vets at the no-kill shelter where Trixie was sent by animal rescue volunteers didn’t think she’d survive.

Guzy disagreed. She rescued Trixie, and through perseverance, consultation with many vets, and skillful splinting, Trixie is now able to walk and function as a normal, happy, and extremely affectionate dog, although one foreleg may be permanently curled under. “I was originally just going to provide foster care,” Guzy laughed, “but …” Trixie is now a full-fledged family member in Guzy’s menagerie, which includes another Katrina-rescue dog named Katie, a shelter cat, and a rescued cockatoo.

One journalism student asked Guzy why she felt it was important to document the animals who were victimized by Katrina’s wrath instead of the humans. “Everyone was documenting the people. As an animal lover, I felt such horror at the archaic policy that wouldn’t allow pets to be rescued along with their owners. A lot of people were forced at gunpoint to leave their animals behind. People knew what was going on,” Guzy explained. “The animals had no idea. It shouldn’t be ‘either/or,’ pets or humans – it should be both.”

Guzy said the silver lining to all the tragedy she documented is that national legislation was passed in October of 2006 mandating that pets be rescued with their owners. “In fact, that’s exactly what happened during the recent California wildfires.”

Asked whether her nursing background affected her work as a photojournalist, Guzy said, “Nursing laid a foundation for the issues I gravitate toward. Nursing teaches you empathy. As journalists, we tend to become cynical with all the things we see, but I try to fight against that. As a photojournalist, I believe I have a mission to let people know what’s happening, to shine a light on things they may never see.”

Guzy told the students she went to cover Katrina as an assignment for the Washington Post, where she continues to work, but ended up taking a six-month leave without pay to photograph the animal rescue efforts. “Sometimes, you just have to follow your heart,” she said with a shrug.

Later in the day, Guzy gave a lecture to a standing-room-only crowd in College Center 146. She began with a speech in which she said her work has caused her definition of “hero” to be revised. She acknowledged that some of the violence depicted in her work is disturbing, and that seeing too much violence in their morning papers and on the news can cause people to experience a sense of hopelessness. “But there is danger, too, in censoring reality,” Guzy warned.

Guzy then showed a slide-and-music presentation of selected photographs from her body of work, including the photographs for which she won her three Pulitzers – the mudslides in Colombia, the U.S. intervention in Haiti, and war-torn Kosovo. There were photographs of the Clintons at the 1996 Democratic National Convention, Mother Teresa’s funeral and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Some of the photographs were difficult to look at -- depictions of hunger and starvation, the maimed and bleeding, suffering and inhumanity. But interspersed with tragedy, there were images of joy, victory, and even humor. The audience, which had been watching in rapt silence, seemed grateful to laugh at a series of three photographs depicting an old man flirting with a young woman on a park bench, the arrival of the woman’s boyfriend, and subsequent humorous disappointment of the old man.

Guzy then read quotes from animal rescue volunteers she followed around a devastated New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina, before showing a slide-and-music presentation of Katrina photographs and a tribute to the firefighters of 9/11. Guzy introduced a friend in the audience, New York City firefighter Bobby Fumarelli, who was involved in search-and-rescue efforts after 9/11, and who spent a month of his own time searching for animals after Katrina. Fumarelli is the subject of two of Guzy’s photographs in the “Silent Souls” exhibit.

Following the lecture, Guzy signed commemorative posters of her exhibit at a reception in the Gallery. The poster design, by Communication Design student Russ Maura, was selected from several student entries and printed courtesy of NCC College Life Committee. The poster, depicting Guzy’s Katrina photograph titled “Faithfully Waiting,” was available for a donation of $10. All the proceeds collected will be sent to Animal Rescue of New Orleans to aid in their continued efforts to rescue the animals left on the streets and in shelters in New Orleans.

“Silent Souls” will run through February 21, 2008. NCC’s Gallery is open weekdays, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. and on Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. A video-loop presentation of 33 photos from the main exhibit will also run through February 21 at the Monroe Campus and the Fowler Family Southside Center. Posters are available at the Gallery while supplies last for a $10 donation. Please call Tom Shillea at 610-861-5062 to inquire. 

To see some of Guzy's photographs, visit the online gallery. To read the Morning Call's interview with her, click here. Read the Express-Times' coverage here.