Tomb Do You Love

I recently started a new nonprofit called Tomb Do You Love It is the only nonprofit specifically dedicated to tomb restoration. No fancy overhead, no expensive salaries - all funds raised go to renovating tombs in New Orleans.

The first tomb we are doing is Storyville photographer Ernest Bellocq’s tomb in St. Louis Cemetery No. 3.

Ernest Bellocq’s tomb in St. Louis Cemetery No. 3

What does it mean to have documented the most desired undesirables? Ernest Bellocq, a New Orleans photographer during the early 1900s, secretly photographed prostitutes in New Orleans’ Red Light District known as Storyville.

His photographs give us a permanent glance into the ephemeral lives of women who existed on the peripheral of society. His revolutionary treatment of these women as not evocative subjects but as empowered individuals who have inspired films, novels, poetry, and scholarly discourse to this day.

The restoration of his tomb seeks to honor his memory just as he honored those that he photographed.

We chose Bellocq’s tomb as our inaugural tomb because he put a face to so many women who were seen as invisible by society, and we hope by spotlighting his tomb, it will put a spotlight on so many other tombs that are ‘invisible.’

Please consider donating to help restore this tomb to its original state.

Restoring New Orleans Cemeteries One Tomb at a Time!