Anne McClintock, South African/American
Ghost Trees, 2018
Dead trees of unknown species break the waterline to tower above a small bayou boat at Bayou Pointe Aux Chien, Louisana. These skeletal ‘ghost trees’ are the remnants of once thriving freshwater wetlands turned salty and inhospitable for native vegetation due to oil industry canals. Residents of Bayou Pointe largely belong to the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw tribe(s) and were the first federally named American ‘climate refugees’, though they are not federally recognized as a tribe. The ghost trees will remain for a bit as a macabre monument to Louisiana’s worsening climate plight before having no choice but to sink beneath the waters. In contrast to the trees, many in Bayou Pointe—like the boaters in the photo’s foreground—are choosing to float for as long as possible, staying on their land to preserve their lives and culture in the face of an existential threat. Label by Lia Deasy