Eagle Creek Fire

Kristi McCluer, American

Eagle Creek Fire, 2017

McCluer, a novice photographer, was hiking to find a good view of the Eagle Creek Fire when she stumbled on this scene. Her photograph quickly went viral, perhaps, because she perfectly captured environmental justice and climate denial. Golf, a symbol of wealth and environmental carelessness, appears to be the only concern for the white men in the foreground. Behind them, a fiery hellscape lights up the mountain as smoke fills the sky. Wealthy individuals can afford to be unperturbed by such crises, continue their game of golf, withstand and even deny environmental disaster. However, through an invisible contrast, the photograph forces the observer to think about those who cannot afford this kind of leisure when facing environmental harm. Label by Katie Lee

Flint Water Crisis

Justin Oltesvig, American

Flint Water Crisis, 2016

Oltesvig has been displeased with how the Michigan government has handled the Flint water crisis. He illustrated an upper-class man (Michigan Governor Rick Snyder) using Flint’s water plant tower as a toilet to highlight the repulsive water that these people have been forced to live with. The plane flying a banner in the sky reads “Drink Coke it’s safer than water” to bring up the fact that soda is for once healthier than Flint water. This piece highlights the topics of deindustrialization and environmental racism from this week by mirroring the shift in water with a shift in wealth. Oltesvig has illustrated a shift from a poor community to a richer community, which is symbolizing the shift of clean drinking water away from Flint. A Flint Vehicle sign can be seen behind a building highlighting the deindustrialization of the area because of the water system. Flint water was causing factory parts to corrode so the city diverted clean water only to the factory, not to the surrounding community. Label by Olivia Falb

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

View from Home

Betsy Jaeger, American, born 1954

View from Home, 2020

View from Home is part of Betsy Jaeger’s current exhibition titled Requiem for a Neighborhood, which examines the effects of a strip mining project that was started and eventually abandoned in her neighborhood of Sugar Grove near Morgantown, West Virginia. The stripping company, after having made its money, declared bankruptcy and left the state of West Virginia to clean up after them, which because of budget concerns may never happen. Many of the works in the exhibition are painted from inside looking out; she contrasts the electricity-powered comfort of the interior with the visible long-term effects of burning fossil fuels in order to alert viewers to the cost of our comforts. Requiem for a Neighborhood also explicitly addresses a shift in the constructed identity of West Virginia as coal country: in Jaeger’s own words, the early 21st century is “a period of change from coal as king to coal as history.” Jaeger uses art specifically because of its accessibility and communicative ability; she wants both to draw attention to these issues for the people of the present and apologize to the people of the future for the damage we have done to the land. Label by Laura Reitze