Spill Piece

Prince William Sound, Northern Knight Island, Death Marsh, 2002

This piece is a montage of images that I made while photographing a scientific expedition to Knight Island.  The purpose of the trip was to gather foraging data on sea otters that had been living in a heavily oiled area of Prince William Sound, 13 years after the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill.  The images were made in Bay of Isles.   That is my own footprint in the intertidal muck of Death Marsh, a small cove at the end of the bay where oil can still be seen.  The landscape image was made in the November morning light from an unnamed island near the mouth of the bay looking northeast towards Valdez Arm and Bligh Reef, where the tanker ship ran aground.  The chemical symbols represent several aromatic hydrocarbons indicative of crude oil that remains scattered in the intertidal sediments of areas impacted by the Spill.

This piece and accompanying statement were made for a gallery show and catalogue that are to travel the state of Alaska to mark the 20th Anniversary of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska.