Don’t Tread on Me, 2015

colored pencil on paper

Environmental disasters hit the papers for a few days. After that, the outrage degrades, while the effects persist. Shortly after I moved to California, Santa Clara Waste Water Corporation nearby exploded releasing a cloud of toxic chlorine that sent 46 to the hospital. High levels of radioactivity had been reported in water piped from nearby fracking sites a month prior to the blow up. Nine employees were charged with 71 felony charges.

I created this drawing, a composite of during and after media documentation of the 3-day conflagration, as a participatory project for Out of the Great Wide Open at Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara. A bare wall was gridded out and numbered for visitors to re-create the event with their own hands.