Untitled from Seep, 2009
©Jessica M. Kaufman, all rights reserved
"A huge underground oil spill resulting from five decades of leaks, courtesy of ExxonMobil, lurks beneath the shores of Newtown Creek in Greenpont Brooklyn. Seep addresses the oil spill that has devastated the environment of Greenpoint and Newtown Creek. This spill, which has recently been estimated to be 30 million gallons, endangers hundreds of homes and dozens of businesses contaminates Newtown Creek and threatens aquatic life harbor-wide. Jessica M. Kaufman photographed the affected neighborhood, waterway, and shoreline over this past year with Polaroid 55 film, which was deliberately misprocessed to allow the film to decay over time. The resulting prints show a destabilized mixed-use landscape, and haunted by the specter of underlying environmental corrosion."