Wallace Merritt (b. 1953) is a native of Alabama who moved to New Orleans in 1981 and studied photography at A School for Fine Photography. Working with a large format camera, he crafted palladium prints of landscapes in France and Ireland that possessed a narrative quality. This was followed by a concentration on the poetic nature of the human form. In the last twenty years he has found inspiration in old family portraits, the sensual and unique culture of New Orleans, and in lyrical poetry. Merritt was a photography instructor at The New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts. His work has appeared in national and international exhibitions, at The New Orleans Museum of Art and has been featured in The New Orleans Review, B&W Magazine, and SHOTS. He has been a guest artist at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. George Slade wrote that Merritt’s photographs “demonstrate a keen absorption of place and an understanding of how individuals can suggest a social whole.”