Church Rock Spill Evaporation Ponds

When was Will Wilson made?

2019

Who is Will Wilson?

a contemporary Diné (Navajo) artist

What is Dinétah?

the traditional homeland of the Navajo people

What is Dinétah called under U.S. law?

the Navajo Nation

Where did Will Wilson study photography, sculpture, and art history?

Oberlin College

What was Will Wilson's bachelor's degree in?

studio art and art history

When did Will Wilson earn a bachelor's degree from Oberlin College?

1993

Where did Will Wilson earn a Master of Fine Arts degree?

the University of New Mexico

When did Will Wilson earn a Master of Fine Arts degree?

2002

What was Will Wilson formerly the Head of?

Photography at Santa Fe Community College

What is Will Wilson presently?

a professor of art at the University of Texas at Austin

What photographic series is Church Rock Spill Evaporation Ponds part of?

"Survey."

What does Will Wilson document in his "Survey" project?

contaminated lands within and on the border of Dinétah that remain polluted as a result of various environmentally harmful extraction activities carried out by the United States government and private American companies

What period saw uranium ore extraction from Navajo Nation lands?

From the 1940s until the 1980s

What was the U.S. doing during the period of uranium ore extraction from Navajo Nation lands?

stockpiled nuclear weapons

How much uranium ore was extracted from Navajo Nation lands from the 1940s to the 1980s?

approximately four million tons

What is an aerial view in photography?

a photographic image shot from above, in the sky

What is the subject of Church Rock Spill?

two ponds used to evaporate water contaminated with tailings

What are tailings?

a radioactive waste product from uranium mining that contains heavy metals and radium

What happens to contaminated water from uranium mining?

It is pumped from the mine into a pond for storage, allowed to evaporate in the sun until dry, at which time its toxic liner is removed and replaced.

When did the dam holding contaminated water at the Church Rock uranium mill breach?

July 16, 1979

How much radioactive liquid was released in the Church Rock spill?

more than 93 million gallons

Where did the radioactive liquid from the Church Rock spill travel?

eighty miles downstream to Navajo County, Arizona, and on to the Navajo Nation

What is the significance of the Church Rock spill?

It remains the largest radioactive spill in U.S. history.

Who described the immediate effects of the Church Rock disaster in her book?

Judy Pasternak

What were the immediate effects of the Church Rock spill on the Puerco River?

The water, filled with acids from the milling process, twisted a metal culvert in the Puerco and burned the feet of a little boy who went wading. Sheep keeled over and died, and crops curdled along the banks.

How far downstream was the surge of radiation from the Church Rock spill detected?

as far away as Sanders, Arizona, fifty miles downstream

Which U.S. government agency acknowledged the remaining hazards on the Navajo Nation reservation from mining operations in a 2014 report?

U.S. Government Accountability Office

What did the U.S. Government Accountability Office report in 2014 regarding Navajo Nation mining operations?

"Navajo people continue to live with the environmental and health effects from mining operations: more than 500 abandoned mines are located across the reservation, some close to homes and communities, and an unknown number of homes and drinking water sources contain radioactive elements."

How does the Church Rock spill compare in size to the Three Mile Island incident?

It was larger.

How was the Church Rock spill underreported compared to the Three Mile Island incident?

vastly underreported

Why were sites like Church Rock selected for toxic activities?

because of the perception that they were nonliving spaces that were not populated

What did a sign placed by the New Mexico Environmental Improvement Division discourage?

Use of the Puerco River

What false assumption have the military and mining industries perpetuated regarding Indigenous peoples of North America?

that they exist only in the past, having disappeared when the West was settled under Manifest Destiny

Who is identified by Will Wilson as perpetuating a false narrative about Native American identity through photography?

Edward S. Curtis

According to Will Wilson, how does American culture view Native people in relation to photography?

remains enamored of one particular moment in a photographic exchange between Euro-American and Aboriginal American societies

During what period did Edward S. Curtis produce The North American Indian?

the decades from 1907 to 1930

What project by Edward S. Curtis is mentioned in relation to the perception of Native American identity?

The North American Indian

What does Will Wilson aim to create with his photographic inquiry?

a body of photographic inquiry that will stimulate a critical dialogue and reflection around the historic and contemporary "photographic exchange" as it pertains to Native Americans

What does Will Wilson propose to convene to engage in performative ritual?

indigenous artists, art professionals and government leaders, as well as the general public

What is one of Will Wilson's artistic responses to Curtis's project?

to create his own portraits in a studio setting using the traditional technique of large format wet plate collodion photographs

What is the size of the glass-plate negative created by the wet plate collodion technique?

eight inches by ten inches

How does the quality of Will Wilson's photographs compare to those printed from 35-millimeter negatives?

Higher quality

Where does Will Wilson display reproductions of his portrait photographs?

On his personal, artist's website

Name three ways subjects are sometimes shown in Will Wilson's portrait photographs.

1. Alone, With a partner, or With other family members

What do Will Wilson's portrait photographs emphasize?

The uniqueness of each subject

What notion do Will Wilson's portraits resist?

That all Indigenous subjects belong to a pre-cast and predictable type

What do Will Wilson's portraits seek to do?

Humanize pictures of people who historically have been dehumanized

To whose photographic projects is Will Wilson's approach akin?

LaToya Ruby Frazier

What agency placed a sign discouraging use of the Puerco River?

The New Mexico Environmental Improvement Division