Departure
Mixed Media on paper. 11" x 14" 2010
This was my artistic digestion of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. After the BP oil rig exploded and sank, taking 11 human lives, over 4.9 million barrels of oil spilled into an area that was home to 8,332 different marine species, including more than 1,200 fish, 200 birds, 1,400 mollusks, 1,500 crustaceans, 4 sea turtles and 29 marine mammals. In 2013, the area is still closed to commercial fishing due to a 40,000 pound tar mat near East Grande Terre, Louisiana.