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

“What about Flint?”

Make:Art:Work, American

“What about Flint?”, 2016

The Detroit art collective, Make:Art:Work, created this neon sign as part of a Rube Goldberg kinetic installation organized across five American cities and regions: New Hampshire, Phoenix, Atlanta, Oakland and Detroit. In the project, titled Common Ground, each artist or collective had to design, fabricate, and film their part of the Rube Goldberg machine in coordination with the other cities. In Detroit, members of Make:Art:Work designed a series of fiery displays which culminated in explosion of a small house illuminated with this neon sign, “What about Flint?” The group’s machine was a direct commentary on art’s ability to destroy the institutions that have failed citizens. By challenging themselves to work across geographic boundaries, the various artists and makers of Common Ground connected through art, technology, and most importantly, by talking to each other. Label by Kelly Conway

Click here to see Common Ground’s Rube Goldberg in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?  v=WMrZ0HiRfOo