Christopher Charles "Porché" West

Christopher Charles "Porché" West, an award-winning photographer who documented the people and culture of New Orleans for over forty years, entered into eternal rest on March 24, 2023 at his Bywater home. He was surrounded by his beloved life partner Edna "Tia" Torres Asevedo and extended family. He leaves behind three brothers: Arthur, Arlen, and Allen, one sister Marie-Elise, and many beloved family members: Guillory's, Porch?'s, Decuir's, Delman's; extended family Baldwin's, Asevedo's and many beloved friends. He was preceded in death by his parents Geraldine Antoinette Porch? West and Roger West.

Christopher was born on January 10, 1958 in Orange County, California. With deep maternal roots in Pointe Coupee Parish, Christopher began visiting Louisiana as a young man to photograph the daily lives and cultural activity of contemporary New Orleans Creoles of Color and African Americans. Between 1985 and 1994 he maintained a commercial photographic studio in Newport Beach, California, but settled in New Orleans permanently in 1995.

After years of photographing this colorful local culture, his artwork made its debut at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in 1996 and was featured there for the following 12 years. Over time, Christopher began exploring new mediums of creative expression. He recycled scraps of wrought iron, aged cypress, window frames and other found materials from the streets of New Orleans to create handcrafted, one of a kind ensembles to house his photographs. These assemblages debuted in 1998 at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and in 1999 won the Festival's Best Display Award in its Contemporary Crafts showcase. Later in his career, Christopher would travel multiple times to Cuba, Liberia and Haiti to document traditions of the African diaspora. However, whether he was photographing Carnival traditions such as the Mardi Gras Indians, Cuba or Jazz funerals in New Orleans, his photographs revealed his great respect for the people whose images he captured.

Christopher's work has been featured in over forty national and international exhibitions and his photos can be found in the archives of the Historic New Orleans Collection, the New Orleans Museum of Art, Harvard University, the Amistad Research Center at Tulane University and the University of California at San Diego, as well as in numerous private holdings. Beyond his innate artistic gifts, Christopher was a very disciplined craftsman who was not afraid of the hard work that it took for him to realize his artistic creations. He took his work seriously, but he had a great capacity for celebration and led, in the words of an old friend, "a robust, rich, and joy-fueled life".

Relatives and friends of the family are invited to attend the Memorial Mass at Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos Church, 3037 Dauphine Street, New Orleans LA 70117 on Friday, June 23, 2023 at 5:30 pm. In lieu of flowers, please send a donation on his behalf to the New Orleans Musician's Clinic Foundation. www.neworleansmusiciansclinic.org/get-involved/donate/