Wednesday, September 29, 2010



From Inhabitat.com:

"Since the BP oil well explosion nearly five months ago (only being officially sealed days ago), media coverage of the disaster has repeatedly shown us hazy images of a gushing wellhead underwater, skimmer ships floating along the stained Gulf waters and stretches of sand-filled barricades attempting to protect hundreds of miles of beaches. Even though this picture has been delivered with searing accuracy, what hasn’t been depicted is the incredible damage that has been inflicted onto both the local ecology and the population of the Gulf’s fishing industries. Now a new beautiful and disarming art exhibit hopes to convey a deeper and more textured view of communities in the Gulf Coast, particularly as compared to what has thus far been portrayed in the media. Mired in the Bayou is an art project and upcoming exhibit in NYC which focuses on the struggles of Alabama’s seafood capital Bayou La Batre and its community’s battle to overcome the effects of an oil spill that has managed to pit once proud compatriots against one another for BP’s “free” money.

In light of this turmoil, Michael De Pasquale, Reed Young and Erin Sheehy traveled to the small fishing community of Bayou La Batre in July of 2010 to document the effects of the disaster. With their project Mired in the Bayou the trio chronicle the lives of ten unique individuals residing in Bayou La Batre, each of whom have been affected by the spill. But rather than unveiling the narrative of a single tragedy, the trio explores a complete community dynamic burdened by repeated catastrophe. Through a distinct three-person perspective, Mired in the Bayou blends the artists’ divergent styles to create a singular portraiture project consisting of twenty photographs and accompanying text and audio. From their efforts arises an arresting juxtaposition of images and text fragments that, as a whole, are able to creating a much more unlikely and much more complete portrait of the lives affected by the BP oil spill."

Read more at Inhabitat

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