3000 Miles of Acid Mine Drainage in My Backyard.

 

My environmental images in the "3000 Miles of Acid Mine Drainage in My Backyard," a series of images of chemical sludge, the key is composition and lighting. I am attempting to create a theme of beauty as irony, but in the end the images are still images of sludge. The color, lighting and the way they are composed along with the important multiple layers of information imbedded in each image, is what makes them so compelling. As Diane Stoll (Aperture) noted, "Katarin Parizek’s unsettlingly gorgeous close-ups of sludge" are pleasing to the viewer and yet grotesque at the same time."

 

I started working on this abstract body of work in 2011 in conjunction with my Environmental Photography course which I created and began teaching during the spring 2011. I feel that it is important for my community to become aware of what is happening in our backyard here in Pennsylvania. Each year, I continue to add images to this growing body of work.

 

• Nine images from this group of images were exhibited in London England.

• A series from this body of work was exhibited in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

• This work also won a PX3 Honorable Mention award in Paris France.

• Images from this body of work was written about by the head editor of Aperture Magazine in conjunction with a juried exhibition held in the Castell Gallery in North Carolina, called "The Human Condition".