Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Artist: Mitch Epstein


Mitch Epstein is a very popular photographer who lives in New York city. He has published a number of books, but his most recent book "American Power" consists of photographs taken over 5 years, documenting how the most energy-profligate nation generates and uses its energy. As I can relate to from my experiences, he had an incredibly difficult time doing this during America's post 9/11 state of paranoia. He was regularly stopped, searched, and questioned. He describes the pictures as:

"[showing the] beauty and terror of early 21st-century America as it clings to past comforts and gropes for a more sensible future… of America teetering between collapse and transformation."

"Clinging to past comforts" is probably one of the biggest reasons that coal power is still around today, and Epstein seems to depict that along with the rest of our power system as a whole with a very keen eye. Though I couldn't find any pictures of MTR, he apparently covers it in the book as well. Nonetheless, I'm definitely going to try to find a copy if I can.






































http://www.mitchepstein.net/index.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/oct/03/mitch-epstein-power-plants-photographs

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