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

Flint

Ti-Rock Moore, American

Flint, 2016

This piece shows a white water fountain with brown-colored water coming out of it, with the sign “COLORED” above it. This relates segregation laws from the late 19th century to the modern predominantly black community in Flint, Michigan that receive poisoned water; a “different type” from other cities with clean water access. The constant water flow shows the ongoing struggle of black communities not only affected by this water, but also by flawed infrastructures that seems to unjustly favor white communities over them, further explaining why this crisis took so long to resolve. The fountain itself being purely white highlights the power and privilege white communities have by constantly providing black communities this poisoned water, while black communities are forced to deal with this situation without much help. Label by Sebastian Rios-Melean

Born and raised in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Ti-Rock Moore has worked primarily with public exhibition since 2014. Despite being a white woman, Moore has chosen to study the racially charged components of the Flint crisis through this work. The height of the stark white water fountain symbolizes the challenges in acquiring resources placed upon neighborhoods of color, yet seemingly nonexistent in primarily affluent white communities. The continual flow of dirty water attests to the ongoing violence that affects families in Flint, and other areas with contaminated water supply. The piece is able to combine visually arresting aesthetics with passionate activism in such a way that it confronts viewers with nothing but truth. Label by Kristin Rheins

This piece of work titled “Flint” is by Ti-Rock Moore. It is a water fountain painted snow white under a “colored” sign with rusty water flowing from it. The white paint is used to signify white privilege and white supremacy to symbolize the ongoing issue of environmental justice through limitations placed on communities of color due to flawed infrastructures with a particular aim at the Flint Water Crisis. The display of the rusty water is used to show the contamination of the water in Flint and how it is particularly affecting “colored” people due to Flint being a majority black community. Moore aims to exemplify the contemporary practices of racism that are in reality just contemporary iterations of slavery. Label by Callie Sties

A quote from artist Ti-Rock Moore is an effective beginning to the thread that runs through the theme of deindustrialization, environmental racism, and slow violence: “to deny that this is an issue of racism leads us right back to the root of the problem.” Her work, Flint, employs important semiotics to convey this connection between racism and the Flint water crisis. The label “COLORED” provides an indexical sign through its assignment of people of color to the water fountain it sits above. At the same time, it forms an iconic sign; “colored” may also refer to the polluted hue of the water it spews. Given the otherwise entirely white color of the work, Moore reflects how white people have assigned the foul water to the largely Black and poor citizenry of Flint. Label by Hannah London

Ti-Rock Moore is an artist originally from New Orleans. Her work is masterfully done; it is simple yet so powerful. The water running from the faucet is brown to reflect the color of the contaminated water of Flint, which forces people to use only bottled water to drink, cook and bathe. She also uses a symbol of racism from the 1960s when water fountains were segregated by race. These two elements together highlight the environmental justice issue of Flint, where the predominantly Black community is struggling to get their basic human rights met. The water contamination is leading to health issues that have affected generations. Label by Riley Kelley

Flyover

Ti-Rock Moore, American

Flyover, 2014

In this work artist Ti-Rock Moore is concerned with the neglect and violence that black communities experienced after Hurricane Katrina due to the government’s inequitable handling of relief efforts. She combines the famous image of George Bush flying over New Orleans surveying the damage with an image of African Americans working on a cotton plantation, along with an American flag covered in racial epithets. She is highlighting the deep history of systemic racism in the US and the fact that this racism was deeply entrenched in the relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina. The calm seeming indifference on Bush’s face is jarring when juxtaposed with this imagery of racialized poverty and the suffering after Hurricane Katrina. Moore, a white woman, focuses on race in her work as one way to combat white silence and provoke discussion. Every person, white and black, must fight against racism; white silence is a form of compliant racism which perpetuates the status quo. Label by Savannah Singleton

Black Coal Miner Memorial

Sarah Hoskins, American, born 1965

Black Coal Miner Memorial, 2017

This photograph of The Black Coal Miner Memorial in Lynch, Kentucky, depicts the centrality of the figure of the black coal miner to Lynch. The memorial consists of the image of the black coal miner alongside various ephemera associated with the occupation of mining. This constellation of images is explained via the gold placard on the left. These placards are a particularly interesting element of the memorial in that while memorials are often didactic, that learning is typically interpretive, not explanatory (this memorial is telling you how to interact with/feel about it). Furthermore, this memorial exists on the side of the Lynch Public Colored School demonstrating that while black coal miners have been integral to Lynch’s economy and community, they are not worthy of memorializing or commemorating in traditionally conceived of forms of commemoration, such as monuments in more highly trafficked areas thus allowing for more public engagement and memory/meaning-making. Label by Jay Jolles