HOWARD PHILIPS SMITH is a photographer and writer, who lives and works in Los Angeles. In conjunction with his documentation for A HISTORY OF EMPTY PLACES, he is researching gay cultural history, focusing on New Orleans in the decades before the AIDS pandemic and the hidden world of gay carnival.

Born in Houston, Texas, he grew up in rural Mississippi and began working on A HISTORY OF EMPTY PLACES in New Orleans in the early 1980s. He has degrees in history and languages, and has exhibited extensively until 1995, when he began to concentrate on the series A HISTORY OF EMPTY PLACES.

Recently he was featured in Arthur Hardy's Mardi Gras Guide with an article documenting the 50th anniversary of the oldest active gay carnival club, the Krewe of Petronius. Entitled THE GOLDEN CELEBRATION, this article illuminates this hidden world with descriptions of the lavish balls held each year since 1961.

CONTACT hsmith@usc.edu