Pat Jolly is a rare contemporary photographer whose commitment and passion for documenting the “art of the community” has resulted in a rich and extensive assortment of images taken over 40 years. Her work has been exhibited in more than 70 shows and includes irreplaceable and rare photographs documenting decades of New Orleans Carnival, festivals, music and artistic street culture.

Pat has made her mark as a photographer, arts educator, event producer, video producer and promoter of creative talent. She’s hooked up hundreds of New Orleans musicians with festival gigs in Europe; earned production credits on foreign and domestic video programs featuring New Orleans music; and organized and curated, on a volunteer basis, numerous photography and art exhibitions.

Over the past few years, Diana Thornton and others, including Mark Fowler and Graham Button, have been working to scan, organize, and keyword her extensive collection of over 100,000 photos. Pat is actively seeking volunteers to add metadata of the names of people in her photos. Contact her at jolly8994@gmail.com if you would like to help.

Most people know Pat for her photos of musicians, second lines and Mardi Gras. But as Diana began sifting through the collection, she discovered numerous abstract and creative images revealing Pat’s sense of shadow and light, patterns and motion that capture the spirit and energy of New Orleans.

Visit Pat’s website to see more.