Oil and Water, 2026, 10’L x 9’W, HDPE Plastic, Photo Etienne Frossard.
“Oil and Water” is a 10’W x 9’D x 30’H sculptural landscape fashioned from high density polyethylene (HDPE) plastic water bottles gathered from the waste stream. Maps of the five leading oil exporter countries to the U.S. —Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Brazil surround a map of the U.S., seemingly tossed in the landscape of molecules of water? Or chemicals? Facing each other inside this landscape are an oil refinery and a reproduction of the 1793 Slater Mill in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, the first water-powered cotton spinning mill in America. The mill sits under scaffolding and atop a tower —as if caught in a flash flood. Below it lies a landscape of tents that house climate refugees. A bird perches on the rooftop surveying the scene.
The sculpture is a visual allegory of the arc of energy technology over time: In the 233 years since the Slater Mill was built the U.S. has become dependent on oil and fossil fuels leading to the seemingly irreversible crisis of climate change and an overwhelming glut of plastic, an oil by product.
