Richard Misrach,Kate Orff
Petrochemical America features Richard Misrachâ€™s haunting photographic record of Louisianaâ€™s Chemical Corridor, accompanied by landscape architect Kate Orffâ€™s Ecological Atlasâ€”a series of â€œthroughlines,â€ speculative drawings developed through research and mapping of data from the region. Their joint effort depicts and unpacks the complex cultural, physical, and economic ecologies along 150 miles of the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge to New Orleans, an area of intense chemical production that first garnered public attention as â€œCancer Alleyâ€ when unusual occurrences of cancer were discovered in the region.,This collaboration has resulted in an unprecedented, multilayered document presenting a unique narrative of visual information. Petrochemical America offers in-depth analysis of the causes of decades of environmental abuse along the largest river system in North America. Even more critically, the project offers an extensively researched guidebook to the way in which the petrochemical industry has permeated every facet of contemporary life. What is revealed over the course of the book is that Cancer Alleyâ€”although complicated by its own regional histories and particularitiesâ€”may well be an apt metaphor for the global impact of petrochemicals on the human landscape as a whole.
Art,Photography,Nonfiction,Environment,Climate Change,Environment,Environment,Nature,History,Science,Politics,Art
Petrochemical America