George Osodi, Nigerian, born 1974
Gas Flare (from the series Oil Rich Niger Delta), 2006
This photograph by George Osodi titled Gas Flare depicts one of the many inhabitants of Nigeria whom he describes as “real people” impacted by the oil industry. It shows a young boy drinking water in front of a gas flare where tapioca is dried in Utorogun - an area in the Niger Delta region. Gas flares in this region are dangerous because they take away domestic and industrial energy needed in Nigeria. The photograph is powerful in its blunt display of what is happening in Nigeria. In a different way, this image is also particularly intriguing because you can’t necessarily point out any distinct features of the young boy or find any particular ways of identifying the image. In this way, the audience is given the opportunity to apply whatever idea/meaning upon this young man’s silhouette that seems fitting. This can be both useful and destructive, but it is an interesting way of approaching this piece. Label by Callie Sties
This image depicts a young boy drinking water in Utarogon in the Niger Delta region. The flames behind him are the result of a gas flare from the extensive oil drilling that occurs in the region. The boy is clearly young, evident even only in silhouette, and his demeanor appears to be composed. This image highlights the resignation of many people against the incessant environmental damage, as the boy is not running or bracing himself from the flames. Children in this area have no control over the oil that is harvested in their own communities. Their lives and environments are under the control of others that they do not know, and the financial and political benefits reaped from such endeavors do not return to them, or their families. The fires in this image literally obscure the humanity of the boy, leaving him as a shadowy figure, pushed into darkness by the flames that burn in the background. This figuratively demonstrates the impact of oil drilling on the lived experiences of those who live in regions highly overrun by the politics of Big Oil and the exploitation of natural environments for financial gain. Adults, regardless of national origin or political affiliation, are unable to remove themselves from the implications of the environmental impacts of our global hunger for oil when it is made clear that children are the victims of such degradation. Label by Gwyneth McCrae
Gas Flare comes from a series of photographs by George Osodi interested in exposing the human and environmental consequences of neglect in the Niger Delta region. It is situated in Utorogun and was taken at a place where tapioca is normally dried. The photo, taken at a gas-flaring site, juxtaposes the dark silhouette of a boy drinking water against the bright, enormous flames of a gas flare—a sharp contrast, layering the human that will face challenges in accessing energy for domestic needs with the chaos of oil-prospecting for the sake of energy production. While documentary, the image’s visual paradox also hints at the photographer’s empathy with his subject, one of the “real people” threatened by the Niger Delta oil industry’s increasing incompatibility with life. Label by Hannah London