Untitled

Barbara Fraser

Untitled, 2016

This photograph depicts a young boy swirling a stick in a canal contaminated with oil, surrounded by dead tree branches following a large oil spill near the northern Peruvian Amazon in 2014. In the Amazon, large lakes like the one shown are typically the largest source of food and water for Indigenous peoples. Now contaminated with oil, they are forced to travel extensively just to find a cleaner source of food and water, likely placing continual stress on them until either the oil is removed, or they relocate to a cleaner environment. The dead tree branches are likely a result of the oil overflowing onto the soil, slowly killing the nearby vegetation. Both boys in the photograph appear pensive, possibly considering their options for how to survive in or evacuate a dying environment. Label by Sebastian Rios-Melean

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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

Abundance Undermined

Hannah Chalew, American

Abundance Undermined, 2019

This image is of a work by Hannah Chalew, depicting the neighborhood of Gordon Plaza. Gordon Plaza was a neighborhood built in the late 1970s atop the Agriculture Street Landfill: a toxic waste dump that was in use for more than 50 years. It was marketed to future residents as a way for low income Black New Orleanians to become homeowners and as a place to realize the American Dream. The site’s history and toxicity was not

communicated to the residents. Almost immediately residents began suffering from deadly health issues such as elevated rates of cancer, lead poisoning, and respiratory diseases. The site’s removal from the National Priorities List and the spreading of toxins caused by Hurricane Katrina have made the situation worse. Today, residents continue to fight for relocation that is fair and fully funded. In this work we can see the juxtaposition between the promised ‘American Dream,’ in the form of a picturesque neighborhood, and the reality of the subterranean toxic waste. She has even incorporated found plastic from Gordon Plaza into the paper. Label by Savannah Singleton

Season’s Greetings

Banksy, British, born 1974

Season’s Greetings, 2018

Banksy placed this mural in the town of Port Talbot, a place where residents know all about air pollution as black dust from local steelworks cover the city (“Banksy’s new artwork in Wales: A comment on air pollution?”, AP News, December 19, 2018). With this mural, Banksy encourages viewers to look beyond their first glance, to step back and see the bigger picture. If you only look at the mural from one side, you will either see just a fire or just a child playing in the snow. When you take a step back and look at the mural in its entirety, you can see how this child is consuming the ashes of the fire, fully taking in toxins. Air pollution from the burning of natural gasses is impacting communities on a global scale, but many people fail to make the connection between how their consumption of fossil fuels impacts others. Banksy is challenging us to think about how our environmental impacts affect others. Label by Lindsey Smith