A Body of Water

Desiree Duell, American

A Body of Water, 2015

Desiree Duell is a native of Flint, Michigan, whose artworks engages disenfranchised communities and encourage liberation. Body of Water is a community-based installation in which Duell traces the outlines of Flint children and then fills in or surrounds the outlines with the water bottles used by Flintstones instead of their tap-water, creating bodies from water bottles. Some of these bottles are filled with contaminated water while others are aposematically blue from LED lights. This striking project reveals the huge burden placed on Flint by visualizing the amount of water people go through and how that translates from the tap to a plastic bottle, trading lead poisoning for plastic pollution. The combination of countless plastic bottles with the outlines of children ties together the dangers of lead poisoning with the potable water crisis, painting the children as crime scene victims, which they very well are because of government negligence. Label by Tori Erisman

American Heartbreakers

Desiree Duell, American

American Heartbreakers, 2016

Desiree Duell utilizes art in multiple mediums to strengthen and heal deprived communities. Duell directed “America’s Heartbreakers,” which was a performance that consisted of women dressed in white hazmat suits with a red broken heart on the chest, surrounding the word “FLINT”. The broken heart dripped down the front of the suits, puddling around the crotch. The performance occurred to raise awareness about the impact the Flint Water Crisis had on women’s reproductive health. Many women had miscarriages as a result of consuming poisoned water. “America’s Heartbreakers” had three primary objectives including helping those participating heal, reveal the hidden trauma in Flint, and exhibit how devastating the Flint Water Crisis was on a physical and emotional level. Label by Elsa Rall