Exposure: Portrait Of A Corporate Crime

Raghu Rai, Indian, born 1942

Exposure: Portrait Of A Corporate Crime, 2002 

In this photograph by Raghu Rai, protesters are gathered outside the walls of the abandoned United Carbide factory. These protests are demanding that medical research be established to study toxic contamination and human health in the area. With more medical research, people who have been negatively affected by the toxic gas released during the Bhopal disaster can hopefully be treated. They are gathered near The Statue of Mother & Child created through a collaboration between Ruth Waterman and Bhopal survivors. The sign with the web on it discusses a recent study performed by the Indian Council of Medical Research. The council studied the results of children born to women and daughters that were exposed to methyl isocyanate, but later refused to release the results of this study. Through this picture Rai captured the battle people are still fighting to achieve environmental justice for those affected in Bhopal. Label by Olivia Falb

Burial of an Unknown Child

Raghu Rai, Indian, born 1942

Burial of an Unknown Child, 1984

Arriving in Bhopal on the morning of December 4th, 1984, Raghu Rai witnessed and photographed the aftermath of the Bhopal gas tragedy, which killed at least 4,000 people and affected the lives of more than 100,000. Children made up a large number of the fatalities and injuries, especially because the poisonous gas drifted close to the ground. Rai photographed the burial of this unidentified child; her eyes are cloudy and swollen due to her exposure to the gas. The child’s family was never identified, but her image has become an icon for the disaster. Label by Sarah Roberts

Street Art Globalization—How Street Art Became a Global Phenomenon

M. Felix, United Kingdom

Street Art Globalization—How Street Art Became a Global Phenomenon, 2015

This graphic poster is featured to exemplify how street art has served as a means of political and social expression around the world. This particular poster is ominous in character; it is meant to concisely convey its message in that there are few, if any other dimensions of the poster that might distract from the three central objects of the piece. The contrast between Mickey Mouse and Ronald McDonald’s smiling faces with the screaming child is dysphoric. This calls attention to the way that seemingly innocent societal structures and franchises can be damaging. Some of the two most well-known figures in the world that are American grown, detaining the child in the middle effectively portrays how American imperialism and cultural influence benefits from the degradation, harm, and exploitation of others. Label by Jordan Stofko

27 April, 1986

Igor Kostin, Russian, 1936-2015

27 April, 1986, 1986

Only 14 hours after the meltdown at Chernobyl, Igor Kostin took a series of photos of the site. However, all but one was destroyed by radiation exposure. This one surviving photo gives a view of the destroyed reactor as seen through a small helicopter window. The photo is exceedingly grainy, blurring the local town of Pripyat. The foggy photo is a result of lingering radiation from the site, despite the fact that it was taken inside a helicopter, 650 feet away. Kostin, who received no official or state approval to take this photo, simultaneously documents the destruction of Chernobyl for the future and shares the story in the present, making public the immediate physical disaster and alluding to the more pervasive disaster of invisible radiation. Label by Caitlin Blomo