THE devastating aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is the subject of an exhibition by internationally-renowned photographer Robert Polidori.

His show, New Orleans After the Floods, documents the 2005 disaster through the damaged homes it left behind – rooms caked with mud and piles of wrecked furniture.

Polidori made four extended visits to New Orleans between September, 2005, and April, 2006, to create the series of images.

He was on his way to Dubai when the hurricane hit, and he watched the events unfold on CNN from the airport lounge.

“Then, in the next couple of days came all the reports about the flooding, and I knew then I had to go,” says Polidori.

“I just knew that this would be a significant event in the perceived history of global warming.”

First exhibited in 2006, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York, to mark the first anniversary of the hurricane, they are also published as a best-selling book.

Born in Canada but based in New York and Paris since the 80s, Polidori is a staff photographer on the New Yorker Magazine, and has contributed to Vanity Fair.

A winner of the World Press Award for his coverage of the building of the Getty Museum and two Alfred Eisenstaedt Awards for his work in Havana and Brasilia, he is best known for exterior and interior architectural images.

NEW Orleans After the Flood is at the Contemporary Urban Centre, as part of Look 11, until June 26.