Picturing the South: 25 Years

 

Picturing the South: 25 Years

 

Hazardous Waste Containment Site, Dow Chemical Corporation, Mississippi River, Plaquemine, Louisiana


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Object Details


Artist/Maker

Richard Misrach, American, born 1949

Date

1998, printed 2012

Medium

Pigmented inkjet print

Dimensions

Please contact the Museum for more information

Credit

Commissioned with funds from the H. B. and Doris Massey Charitable Trust, Lucinda W. Bunnen, and High Museum of Art Enhancement Fund

Accession #

2012.11

Image Copyright

© 1998 Richard Misrach / Courtesy of Fraenkel Gallery, Pace-MacGill Gallery and Marc Selwyn Fine Arts.

Description

“Dow Corporation is the largest petrochemical company in Louisiana; it began its operations in the state in 1956. Between 1958 and 1973 Dow buried forty-six thousand tons of toxic waste in unlined pits that now cover more than thirty underground acres. The company attempts to pump the waste back to the surface before it reaches the drinking water aquifer for the city of Plaquemine. These efforts notwithstanding, every time the Mississippi River rises it floods the waste site, likely carrying toxins into the river and polluting the water supply as it makes its way down toward New Orleans.” —Richard Misrach