Justin Oltesvig, American
Flint Water Crisis, 2016
Oltesvig has been displeased with how the Michigan government has handled the Flint water crisis. He illustrated an upper-class man (Michigan Governor Rick Snyder) using Flint’s water plant tower as a toilet to highlight the repulsive water that these people have been forced to live with. The plane flying a banner in the sky reads “Drink Coke it’s safer than water” to bring up the fact that soda is for once healthier than Flint water. This piece highlights the topics of deindustrialization and environmental racism from this week by mirroring the shift in water with a shift in wealth. Oltesvig has illustrated a shift from a poor community to a richer community, which is symbolizing the shift of clean drinking water away from Flint. A Flint Vehicle sign can be seen behind a building highlighting the deindustrialization of the area because of the water system. Flint water was causing factory parts to corrode so the city diverted clean water only to the factory, not to the surrounding community. Label by Olivia Falb