Extractivism in the Americas
Organized by the Environmental Arts and Humanities Working Group
February 7 - March 7
On View: Thursday-Saturday, 1-5 p.m. and by appointment via stulen@wustl.edu
Reception: Friday, February 7; 5-7 pm
FEATURED ARTISTS
Anthony Acciavatti
Neeraj Bhatia
Jennifer Colten (Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts)
Seth Denizen and Montserrat Bonvehi Rosich (Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts)
Natalia Guzmán Solano (WashU alum)
Derek Hoeferlin (Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts)
Meghan Kirkwood (Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts)
Mark Menjívar
Richard Mosse
Patricia Olynyk (Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts)
Extractivism in the Americas features artworks focused on mining, pipelines, groundwater and other natural resource extraction. Through photography, film, textiles and design, these artists examine the environmental and social impacts of extraction in the United States, Canada and Latin America. The exhibition is hosted by WashU’s Environmental Arts & Humanities Working Group in the Center for the Humanities and funded by WashU Arts & Sciences and Here & Next.
What is extractivism?
In environmental terms, extractivism refers to depleting natural resources through processes like mining, clear-cutting and oil and gas drilling. While a global phenomenon, the term has roots in the Americas and first emerged in the 1990s among Latin American activists and academics to draw critical attention to the devastating ecological and social impacts of deforestation, mining and oil drilling — extractivismo — in the Andes and Amazon. Focused on the impacts of mining and other natural resource extraction, extractivism is closely tied to issues of colonialism, capitalism, globalization and climate crises. Extractivism is an urgent environmental issue and important subject of humanities research and creative practice.
Image: Sioux Energy Center coal power plant in the middle of the 2019 flood, Mississippi River by Derek Hoeferlin, professor and chair of landscape architecture and member of the Environmental Arts and Humanities Working Group.