Cynthia Ryan Kelly, American
Sludge Creek, 2006
Cynthia Ryan Kelly is an artist whose works are narrative, colorful, and spontaneous works that aim to weave social commentary into her compositions. This piece comes from Kelly’s “Stories about Mountain Top Removal” series. Kelly attaches a quick statement to the piece; “Seemingly neutral people shake hands, make deals and destroy creation.” Through the saturated colors and contrasting black coal sludge, a sense of toxicity and almost grotesque mood is given. Kelly uses this piece to comment on the impacts of mountaintop removal coal mining on communities surrounding those areas. Human figures are shown drudging through what is coal waste, while a mountain above their homes seems to be blown up, illustrating how the process of extracting coal to fulfill capitalist demands destroys the lives of those who live in the ecosystem with the coal. Label by Isabel Schreur