Take part in an engaging tour when you visit (or revisit!) “Flint is Family” and “The American Dream Revisited” on the final day of the exhibitions at Newcomb Art Museum.
–
About the exhibitions:
In 2016, artist, activist, and MacArthur genius awardee LaToya Ruby Frazier spent five months living in Flint, Michigan with three generations of women–the poet Shea Cobb, her mother Renee, and daughter Zion–observing their day-to-day lives as they endured one of the most devastating human-made, environmental tragedies in US history: the lead contamination water crisis in their hometown. The artistic result of Frazier’s time there is reflected in the works presented in the exhibition “Latoya Ruby Frazier: Flint is Family.”
By portraying the daily struggles of the Cobb family, Frazier used a tight focus to create a story about the impact of a systemic problem disproportionately affecting marginalized communities. Frazier rejected the voyeuristic photographs that emerged from outside media sources and instead collaborated closely with her subjects through photographs, capturing intimate moments along with the myriad challenges the family faced without access to clean water.
–
In “The American Dream Denied: The New Orleans Residents of Gordon Plaza Seek Relocation,” students from the Critical Visualization and Media Lab (CVML), led by Tulane sociology and environmental studies professor Christopher Oliver, PhD, collaborated with New Orleans’ Residents of Gordon Plaza –Shannon Rainey, Lydwina Hurst, Jesse Perkins, Sam Egana, Marilyn Amar– and representatives from the New Orleans People’s Assembly to showcase the impact of living among life-threatening pollution with limited access to resources and raise awareness of the environmental crisis facing contemporary Louisianans and New Orleanians.
The exhibition – equal parts art show, social history, and critical visualization project – presents, in a myriad of ways, a chronological and visually engaging look at the residents’ fight for a fully funded relocation with an emphasis on the role of women in activism, the effect on day-to-day living, and the frustrations of the “promised” American Dream.
