Toxic News

Explore the unseen nature of Chernobyl with photographer Edward Thompson Dr Thom Davies, Research Fellow at the Department of Sociology, University of Warwick @ThomDavies During my ethnographic research with communities in Chernobyl, Ukraine, a repeated theme during interviews was the invisibility of pollution. Often my research participants, who still live on land contaminated by the … Continue reading The Red Forest: Picturing Radiation with Infrared Film

Becky Alexis-Martin explores the materiality of the nuclear industry in a multi-sited photo-essay Dr Becky Alexis-Martin, Senior Research Fellow in Human Geography at The University of Southampton. @MysteriousDrBex A layer of detritus festoons every abandoned filing cabinet and empty shelf. The fierce midday sun pierces the hazy windows, causing suspended motes to shimmer in the … Continue reading The derelict afterlives of para-nuclear waste

Explore the toxic geographies of ‘rare earth’ minerals with this original collaborative project Dr Thom Davies, Research Fellow at the Department of Sociology, University of Warwick @ThomDavies The device that you are staring at contains Rare Earth: minerals that help construct the digital devices of our late-modern lives. Though often unrecognized, rare earth metals are … Continue reading Rare Earthenware: photography, pottery, and pollution

Explore the hazardous world of ship-breaking with photographer Jan Møller Hansen Dr Thom Davies, Research Fellow at the Department of Sociology, University of Warwick @ThomDavies As maritime geographer Kimberley Peters writes, ‘ships and the sea occupy the edges of our consciousness; they are largely invisible and seemingly irrelevant in our everyday lives.’ And yet, as she continues, … Continue reading Graveyard of Giants: the Toxic Afterlives of Ships

Paul Shambroom visualises the invisible landscapes of the US oil reserve Dr Thom Davies, Research Fellow at the Department of Sociology, University of Warwick @ThomDavies In his artistic statement quoted below, photographer Paul Shambroom asks: ‘How does one photograph something that can’t be seen?’ This is a fundamental question at the heart of all the … Continue reading Treasure: Landscapes of the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve

Read an interview and photo essay about Chih Chiu’s thought provoking work Dr Thom Davies, Research Fellow at the Department of Sociology, University of Warwick @ThomDavies Some photographers and artists simply document pollution. They bare witness to the many social injustices that toxicity produces. In that witnessing there is the hope, at least, that opinions … Continue reading Voyage on the planet: contemplating pollution with Chih Chiu