Slow Violence
Somewhere in time
There's a gravity to the words "Slow Violence". It straight away paints a picture of a mercyless crushing act. I stumbled upon the term when reading an interview with author Dr. Rob Nixon where he explained the origin and concept of the term his book "Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor".
Slow Violence describes the gradual and often invisible forms of harm and destruction, particularly in the context of environmental degradation and social injustice. Happening at such a slow pace that it is not viewed as an act of violence at all.
Over the span of several weeks I researched background information as I started producing first sketches outlining the tracks. I came up with five arragements each representing a region that fit the scope. A lot of ideas were born from watching short documentaries or news reports about the events.
51°N,30°W - Red Forest, Ukraine
In the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear fallout the leeves of one of the forests inside the so called exclusion zone turned ginger-red following the absorbtion of massive levels of radiation.
16°N,107°E - Da Nang District, Vietnam
One of the most polluted areas during and after the deforestation campaigns by the US military during the Vietnam war. Agent Orange not only affected the forest but also the local villagers as well as US soldiers leading to birth defects and multiple forms of cancer spreaded over generations.
56°N,43°E - Dzerzhinsk, Russia
Listed as one of the most polluted citys on earth. With a toxic legacy of the chemical weapon industry reaching back to soviet times, the life expectancy of men and women is under the age of 50. You still need special permission as a non-local to enter the wider area.
17°S,149°W - Tahiti, French Polynesia
On 17 July 1974 the 41st nuclear test called Centaur was conducted by the French military in the Mururoa Atoll. The atomic cloud took an unexpected trajectory moving over the island of Tahiti. About 110.000 people were exposed to a 10 times higher radiation as expected according to information by the French Nuclear Commission.
28°N,88°W - Gulf of Mexico
Deep Water Horizon was a BP operated oil platform causing one of the biggest oil spills in history. In the aftermath of an explosion on the site 4.9 million gallons of oil leaked into the gulf. The spill could not be successfully managed for over 2 year from 2010 until 2012.