Video: Close-up of pollution: Bill Miller's daring photocycle
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Shots of a Brooklyn photographer Bill Miller (Bill miller) are able to evoke an amazing range of emotions - from disgust to involuntary admiration for unexpected beauty, manifested in things that at first glance are ugly. In his works, Miller draws attention to the ecological catastrophe of his "small homeland" - the monstrously polluted Govanus Canal.
The Govanus Canal, which borders Brooklyn's Park Slope and Red Hook districts, already has the official status of a "catastrophically polluted reservoir." Waste of all kinds, including from the chemical industry, has been dumped into Govanus for a century and a half; in the opinion of the inhabitants of the streets bordering the canal, it is literally "impossible to be" next to it. Miller's photographic cycle, which shows eerie patterns painted by dirt and debris on the surface of Govanus, is controversial. Pollution is terrible in itself, but the photographer's mind gives these ugly patterns a peculiar charm.
Miller's photocycle can be easily perceived in isolation from pressing environmental issues. An uninitiated viewer can easily mistake the surface of Govanus for the surface of a lifeless planet - or a planet on which life has disappeared. But the pollution of water bodies like Govanus should serve as a serious warning to all mankind.
Miller's work can also be perceived as a "horror photo cycle" - some critics suggest that they belong to the "horror" genre. On the surface of Govanus, like in a book, you can read the history of all the crimes of man against his own planet over the past one and a half hundred years.
Bill Miller's work allows you to remember that Brooklyn is not only a place where funny gingerbread houses and optimistic artists like Katie Sokoler … Miller does not want to run away from reality, but advises to look into her face - after which he urges not to be afraid, but to act.
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