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"Flipping through the pages of Creole World (Historic New Orleans Collection, $50), it's easy to get lost. Not just in the sticky, humid languidness and the surreal bursts of color that come through with each photograph\u2014but in the actual geography of the images. Richard Sexton's well-crafted comparisons illuminate the astonishing similarities between New Orleans and the cities of Latin America. As the photographer explains, \"It's a clich\u00E9, but there's a reason that they call New Orleans the most northern Caribbean city\u2014because it is.\"\n\nSexton, whose images span almost four decades of travel, finds parallels not just in the climate-responsive, subtropical architectural designs, but more deeply in the locals' attitude to life. Instead of adopting a new culture and assimilating in the New World, these communities were built out of adaptation and improvisation. This cultural collision\u2014whether in New Orleans or in Latin American\u2014resulted in a unique sense of place and an unmistakable creative vibrancy.\n\n\"Creolization was the reaction to the adversity of being in a new place in challenging conditions. The response to that produced a new culture that is not European. It's Creole,\" says Sexton, who has lived in New Orleans since 1991.\n\nThere's always been a bit of confusion about how exactly to define Creole\u2014even in New Orleans, locals don't always agree. Is it a person? A gumbo? A type of house? Sexton's understanding is clear, and his new book stunningly captures not only the meaning of the word but its original spirit as well.\n\nAn exhibit on this topic, which includes some images from the book, is on view at the Historic New Orleans's Collection (www.hnoc.org) through December 7.\n\nView a selection of stunning images from Creole World.\n\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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