Search

Fuel related toxicity is clear from this composition. 

 I’m trying to think about this, because for me, I am struck by the emptiness in the image.. Absence is what initially strikes me, but the caption actually centers around the fullness and the vitality of the swimming people, as a means to escape toxicity in many ways. At this point, I’m not sure if the caption and the photo actually align or if a different photo of the pool might work better? Or if a bit more about absence in the caption might help to bridge the photo and the caption more? 

As stated in another response, I think the visualization and the  caption could be bridged a bit more. Right now the emptiness in the photo is overwhelming. Theorizing absence a bit more in the caption could add to a really interesting take on toxicity itself. Maybe some Derrida here? Paola Baccheta’s work includes some things on absence. Thinking about various archives and how absence is theorized, maybe in some feminist epistemologies? Maybe the flood due to toxicity both political and environmental could be further elaborated in the caption. 

This photo was taken by the contributor.  The main focus of the photo is on the tree in the center. The point of focus is the tree. How can that be theorized more? Is there significance there? If the tree is the point of reference, why? If you don’t want it to be, what could you narrow in on more? 

If a loss of vitality is center to the photograph, how can that lost vitality be portrayed in the image itself? Could ghost-like figures be overlayed in the photo? Could you play a bit with the reflection of the pool? Is there something you could do playing with vitality and maybe sort of alter the tree so it’s decaying?  

The toxicity in this visualization is rendered at multiple points--the environment, the body, social toxicity, political toxicity, etc. I think the interconnection of these toxicities could be elaborated more.  

This visualization and caption advance ethnographic insight by considering a problem at the heart of many forms of toxics regulations, namely, when the same powers responsible for the river's pollution are also responsible for decisions which impact chemicals entering the river and altering all life in the landscape. It also comments on environmental campaigns by taking into account not only the natural landscape, but also the issues impacting the inhabitants of the valley as a result of the uneven power structures which maintain it in its current state.

The caption could be slightly extended to include a little more information about which chemicals are in the river, and which industries they originate from, as well as how this toxicity is economically linked to the issues affecting the inhabitants of the valley (ex.- are particular markets, and or structures which are oppressive, benefited by the presence of particular industry?)

This found image is notable as it presents the Bisri Valley as a lush green place which appears uninhabited, which belies the issues of the inhabitants of the valley, as well as the toxicity of the valley's water.

This image might be enriched by adding a list of some of the industries present at the bottom, thereby accentuating the absense of their visualization in the lush green presentaton.