LaToya Ruby Frazier, American, born 1982
Flint is Family, 2016
This image depicts the young child of Shea Cobb, a lifelong resident of Flint, Michigan. After the citizens in Flint became aware of the contamination of the water supply, many families were forced to avoid their taps entirely in order to avoid the poison that was contained in the water. In this image, the young girl is using bottled water to brush her teeth instead of the tap water. Due to the contamination, clean water turned from a standard utility to a vital resource that needed to be rationed. The sparkle that appears in her eyes highlights the natural relationship all living beings have with water as our sustenance. Her overall demeanor seems excited, and more than anything, natural. There is a certain sinister nature to this image in that we know as humans that our interaction with water is not something we would like to contemplate and is often something those who have access to clean water take for granted. However, we also know that this child is being required to develop an untrusting relationship with the water that flows from her tap and fills the local rivers. Water in Flint is now a commodity that needs to be shipped in in bottles, and rationed strategically to brush teeth in what is said to be one of the most advanced countries in the world. Label by Gwyneth McCrae