Emory Visual Arts Program | Events and Exhibits

ARTIST'S STATEMENT

Eve Andrée Laramée: Halfway to Invisible
Exhibition Dates: February 5 – March 6, 2009

Halfway to Invisible raises questions about the environmental legacy of uranium mining for atomic weapons and nuclear power, and its biological impact on the peoples of the American West. Between 1949 and 1989, uranium mines in the Western United States produced more than 225,000,000 tons of uranium ore. This activity affected a large number of Native American nations, including the Navajo, Laguna, Zuni, Southern Ute, Ute Mountain, Hopi, Acoma and other Pueblo cultures.

During the “Uranium Boom” in the Grants area of New Mexico, many of these peoples worked in the 1,200 uranium mines. Others worked locally in the almost 4,000 mines, mills and processing plants in the Four Corners region (where New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado converge). These workers were not only poorly paid, they were seldom informed of the dangers of working with uranium nor were they given appropriate protective gear. Due to the Cold War demand for increasingly destructive and powerful nuclear weapons, these laborers were both exposed to and brought home (in the form of dust on their clothing and skin) large amounts of radiation.

Epidemiologic studies of the families of these workers have shown increased incidents of radiation-induced cancers, miscarriages, cleft palates and other birth defects. The government, mine owners, scientific and health communities were all well aware of the hazards of working with radioactive materials at this time. Diseases related to working in the mines include cancers of the lung, bone, stomach, brain and skin, as well as kidney and liver damage. After the mills were closed and torn down, some of the local people in the area used the contaminated rebar-reinforced concrete debris to build foundations for their houses, as these materials were left lying out in the open land. Uranium mining is one of many issues surrounding the environmental and health impact of atomic weapons and nuclear power. Others include the research, production and testing of atomic weapons, as well as the storage of waste from nuclear reactors.

These stories of our atomic legacy should not remain buried in the deserts of the Southwest, but rather be discussed in numerous venues by a wide range of individuals. We must question how "Atomic Age" events may have influenced evolutionary processes and produced genetic casualties in these communities caught in the crossfire of atomic war. Halfway to Invisible does not seek to propose a pat answer, conclusion or solution to these complex problems; rather, it proposes these questions: Is our atomic legacy producing genotoxic effects in indigenous human populations? If so, what is the extent of DNA damage, and how might this affect these populations in the future?

The artist would like to acknowledge the following individuals: Courtney “scrap” Wrenn, Jamilah Abdul-Sabur, William Thomas Porter, Gregory Barsimian, Chelsea Noggle, Erika Wanenmacher, Mary Beath, and
Neal Reinalda.

Thanks go out to the Emory University community, especially Mary Catherine Johnson, Linda Armstrong, Leslie Taylor, Emma Greenberg, Kerry Moore, Sidney Perkowitz, and the Emory College Center for Creativity & Arts for their generous support.

This exhibition is sponsored in part by a grant from the Emory College Center for Creativity & Arts funded by the University-wide Creativity & the Arts Strategic Initiative. Additional funding was provided by the Emory College Center for Teaching & Curriculum and Emory University's Founders Week, February 1-7, 2009.

Eve Andrée Laramée / Photo: Shimon Attie

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Eve Andrée Laramée has been exploring the mutable, triadic relationship between art, science and nature for over twenty years. Her work has been exhibited throughout the United States and in Europe, including exhibitions in New York, England, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, France, Israel, Poland and the Czech Republic. Her work has been exhibited at the Venice Biennale, MassMOCA, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York; the High Museum of Art, Atlanta; the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston among other institutions. She has received awards from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Museum, the Andy Warhol Foundation, among others. Laramee is a Professor of Interdisciplinary Sculpture at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Previously, she has taught sculpture, installation and critical theory at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Art and Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Rhode Island School of Design, Sarah Lawrence College, New York University, and Fairfield University. She lives in Brooklyn, NY; Baltimore, MD; and Santa Fe, NM.

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