In 1849 a patent was granted entitled, “Buoying Vessels Over Shoals” proposing that a buoyant chamber be designed into boats to lift the craft and decrease the hull draft depths when traveling over shallow water.  What a monumental idea, rather than dredge or alter the natural aspects of a river, change the characteristics of the vessel- lifting the boat to accommodate the larger more powerful waterway. The Mississippi River naturally shifts and changes course, altering routes and paths constantly, the photographic series, Mississippi Bound, explores human’s attempt to control and direct the trajectory of the powerful river.  Wearing a handmade indigo dyed dress, personifying the Mississippi, I construct images in front of levees, floodgates and port towns deserted when the Mississippi changed course.  As a New Orleanian, the Mississippi River plays a vital role in the economic continuation of the city, the cultural landscape and the daily lives of those residing in the Lower Mississippi River Basin.  Making pilgrimages to these contact points between man and the river, I investigate the struggle for power and examine the relationship between ritual, history, geography and systems, both natural and human constructed.