True Portraits of an Ecological Catastrophe

American photographer Jane Fulton Alt portrays the Gulf of Mexico oil spill as one of the worst ecological disasters in US history in her series of photographs A Crude Awakening. “A Crude Awakening“ features portraits of “swimmers” proudly standing coated with oil on a beach. The grave, distant and somewhat daunting photos are, according to Fulton, meant to emphasize the responsibility humankind bears towards nature and to examine the way of life and the relationship towards the environment we live in. Even though the photos were not recorded on authentic locations affected by the oil spill, which would also be impossible due to major health risks, they nevertheless testify to the catastrophic consequences ensued following the large-scale oil spill this year in April. As Fulton Alt explains in the series delineation, this ecological, and at the same time social and economical catastrophe, underlines explicit problems caused by human beings carelessly exploiting valuable products of the earth. The purpose of “A Crude Awakening” is to issue a wake-up call, take responsibility and treat our planet with enhanced environmental awareness.

In her previous work, Jane Fulton Alt perpetuated another great American disaster, namely, in the book Look and Leave she documented formidable consequences of the desolation caused by hurricane Katrina.

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