Flint is Family Series

LaToya Ruby Frazier, American, born 1982

Flint is Family, 2016

The Flint water crisis is another example of the violence people of color and people of poverty experience worldwide. Astoundingly this violence is seen all over America. A country of wealth and power and an extensive government with agencies to protect the people against problems like these. However, the people of Flint, Michigan, were exempt from the protection of the government. The greedy officials neglected children, such as the one in this photograph, from their right to drink water, bathe, and brush their teeth. They were plagued by a toxic water supply sparked from a switch the state used to save money. The residents of all ages quickly fell ill to the toxicity. The background of the photograph shows a protestor holding up a “Flint Lives Matter” sign. This symbol further connects the water tragedy in Flint to the Black Lives Matter movement across the US today. The slow violence and systematic racism in our country prove the ideals that America boasts are only there to protect a select group, which is wealthy white Americans. Label by Annabel Bentley

The photograph from the series Flint is Family (2016) by LaToya Ruby Frazier effectively puts a face on how environmental factors like lead affect individuals. It presents an innocent young boy alongside a man in a hazmat suit, both seeking protection from danger, but with vastly different levels of exposure. This striking juxtaposition helps the audience comprehend the magnitude of the issue and those most affected by it. Such a form of protest proves highly effective in raising awareness and visibility for those who have been marginalized for generations. Label by Jackson Smith

Bridge Over Flint 24

Matthew Brandt, American, born 1982

Bridge Over Flint 24, 2016

This photo depicts a bridge over the Flint River, the primary water source for the city of Flint, Michigan. As of 2014, the water of the Flint River has been used as the primary water supply for the city of Flint. In the years since, the people of Flint have faced lead poisoning, outbreaks of disease, and severe financial damage because of the poisoned water and the shoddy infrastructure and governmental misconduct that poisoned it. In this image, Matthew Brandt plainly represents the often invisible dangers of Flint’s water to viewers in the discoloration of the image. Brandt developed the image with tap water from Flint as well as other substances to create this damaged and ominous effect. Brandt connects physically and visually connects Flint’s poisoned tap water with the river it comes from as well as with local infrastructure to demonstrate to viewers the dangers of Flint’s water as well as the reason it is so dangerous. Label by Caitlin Blomo

Flint Water at What Pipeline

William Pope L, American, born 1955

Flint Water at What Pipeline, 2017

In this artistic intervention, Pope L. and his collaborators purchased water from residents of Flint, Michigan during an ongoing water crisis. The water was labeled and sold in their store What Pipeline and online as Flint Water in bottles marked “non-potable.” Proceeds from the sales went to the United Way of Genesee County (Flint’s county) and Hydrate Detroit. This creative transformation of bottles of water to art objects also became a direct economic intervention in which residents and non-profit aid organizations were compensated. As bottled water, these art objects are also evocative of the ways in which many Flint residents must continue to source their water. Label by Morgan Brittain

Pope L.’s “Flint Water Project'' pairs art with social justice due to the awareness and money raised from the installation. Created in 2017 and based in Detroit, Pope L. collected contaminated water from Flint, Michigan, bottled it up, and sold it in the nearby city of Detroit. The Flint water crisis, which began in 2014 due to government budget cuts, deeply harmed the impoverished and minority community in Michigan as their water was exposed to lead and E. Coli. This innovative art project not only increased awareness and engagement due to its unusual concept, but the proceeds went to United Way of Genesee County in Flint and Hydrate Detroit. Label by Clarissa Cantacuzene

Untitled

Latoya Ruby Frazier, American, born 1982

Untitled, 2016

This photo, appearing in artist and activist Latoya Ruby Frazier’s photoessay Flint is Family, depicts the Flint poet Shea Cobb standing on a bridge above the Flint River. This photoessay is one rooted in both place and people, following Cobb’s family for six months as they grapple with the ongoing water crisis in their city. This particular image highlights the intersecting role of nature, governmental infrastructure, and human beings in the fight for clean water in Flint. The image depicts a bridge, upheld by intersecting girders, over the Flint River, which takes up most of the background. A lightpost and a dead tree in the water, almost parallel to one another, also appear in the image. In the center of the photograph is a singular Black woman, looking up at the camera with her head slightly tilted, as if asking a question. In this image, the various aspects of the Flint Water Crisis all intersect, quite literally illustrated by the intersecting straight lines of the bridge, the supports, the lines on the railing, the river, and the other objects in the photo. The Flint River, the natural origin of much of the dirty water in the Flint, intersects with the man-made bridge, a potential representation of the government’s infrastructure that poses the true threat to the inhabitants of Flint. In the middle of this intersection is a human being, a Black woman and a resident of the city—an indication that any understanding of the water crisis in Flint must focus its attention on the effect that institutional mishandling of nature and infrastructure has on the people in the city. Label by Maxwell Cloe