A conversation about art and the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, by Ariel Kempf and Judith Fleming

Jf: What motivated you to make these pieces?

AK: I was pissed, I was mad, I wanted to vomit. But couldn’t very well do that all the time. We planted the idea [to make this show], and then it was like the floodgates were open.

JF: Can you talk a little about where you’re from and how that relates to the work?

AK: Well,

I’m from the dirty, dirty. It’s very steeped in its ways and traditions. It’s both open and totally closed at the same time

JF: You mean the people

AK: Yes, they would talk to you for hours about anything, give you a place to stay. Very hospitable, yet very set in its ways. It’s layered, it’s murky and muddy.

JF: I’m trying to imagine how it’s changed over time, as I’ve never been there

AK: Yeah, that’s the thing is that not much has changed, people will feed you- people move there now, which I don’t think happened before.

Because it’s where I’m from, it’s an attempt to process what is happening, and it is helping me to see how tied I am to the place.

JF: Yeah, it’s devastating.

AK: Here’s this place that’s so unique, it is water- it is various stages of water turning to land. Louisiana is the mouth of the Mississippi river, which is visible from space. And there’s industry and industrial farming all up and down the river, and by the time it reaches the delta it is really toxic. And that is New Orleans drinking water.

JF: What do you think is going to happen?

AK: I have no idea. It could be really bad. With all the chemical dispersants they have put into the Gulf it is causing a lot of death. It breaks up the oil into really tiny particles that disperse and keep below the surface; by effect those animals can’t breath as the oxygen levels are so low… Not to mention that ¾ of the oil is “gone” – captured, siphoned, burned—that .25 is 5 Exxon Valdese spills.

AK: What made you want to make something?

JF: Well, the oil leak is pretty disheartening, to say the least. I heard that it was the largest man-made disaster, and people were comparing its weight in castatrophy to the dust bowl. I started doing other work around it with an organization called Public Social University, a class on survival because I felt that things were really starting to hit the fan. To me, we really need to be able to depend on each other if we loose control of our ecosystem as well as our governmental system. When I went home to Nevada for my brothers wedding my mom suggested that I do a show of embroidery on my experiences. She pulled out embroidery that she had started for my sister when my sister was living with nuns in Albania. The embroidery was things of my sister’s life, like our dog, her college mascot, and so on. From there my mother taught me how to embroider, and my grandmother too. My friend Ally Drozd, who help make the blue crab piece, sent me a link to the ten most effected animals from the oil leak. From there it became kind of a research project, these animals are so beautiful and important, not just by themselves but to each other.

JF: Do you want to talk about the material that you used?

AK: I really just chose it to represent the sand, oil and water mixture.

JF: Yeah, but you told me that this too was a representation of a photograph?

AK: Yes, it was. A photo that I found online, a close up of the leak on land, a few days after it had first washed up on land.

JF: Have you been back?

AK: I was there when it was on fire, I landed April 19^th, it happened on the 20^th.

JF: What was that like?

AK: It was really intense. A place that’s finally after 5 years is coming back to life, as if things are going to be ok, and the deepest offshore oil rig, blows up. Eleven people died- and it is gushing oil, and nobody is really talking about it. It was intense.

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Embroidery by Judy Fleming and Ally Drozd

Fabric by Ariel Kempf

All work is for sale with all proceeds going to the Louisiana Bucket Brigade and the Bayou Rebirth.

arielmkempf@gmail.com