Bird Mired in Oil on the Beach, East Grand Terre Island, Louisiana, June 3, 2010

Charlie Riedel, American

Bird Mired in Oil on the Beach, East Grand Terre Island, Louisiana, June 3, 2010, 2010

In this canonical photo from Charlie Riedel’s Deepwater Horizon photo essay, a bird’s attempt to rise, or to simply move at all, is juxtaposed by the weight of a thick coating of oil residue. In fact, the bird is so obscured that it takes the form of a different animal or a new type of alien creature altogether. This reflects the relative silence animals have in the debate over whether or not humans have a right to use their habitats for harmful resource production. The way Riedel has captured his image emphasizes the abrupt recognition of harm done to something we cannot readily see, but are vaguely aware of. Fossil fuels burn quickly, but the effects of their extraction accrue lasting damages. Label by Kristin Rheins

Untitled

Charlie Riedel, American, born 1961

Untitled, 2010

The oily evidence of the BP Deepwater Horizon spill of April 2010 began to appear on Louisiana’s shores some weeks after the rig’s initial explosion. On June 3rd, Charlie Riedel took a few of the earliest and most iconic photographs of the spill’s effects on wildlife. A pair of pelicans sit like stones on the beach, almost unrecognizable with their thorough coating of oil; their bodies are weighed down to the extent that they are unable to rise. In the six weeks between the start of the spill and Riedel’s photographs, interest in the disaster had waned. The plight of these seabirds made clear the intensity of the damage and brought animal welfare to the forefront of the nation’s attention. Label by Sarah Roberts