This week's template image for LMAC Collage Contest #205 was not one of @shaka's more idyllic scenes.
Many of the artists in the LMAC community picked up on the theme of pollution and corruption. If you look at the collages posted this week you'll see some grim (and some whimsical) interpretations of the template. Obviously, I didn't do whimsy.
I was impressed by how polluted the water around that ship must be. It wasn't just what seemed to be a rusting hulk of a ship that was apparently polluting the water. It was also the industry evident in the picture, industry that surely was adding more contaminants to the water.
Water. We need it to live. Many of us take it for granted. We turn on the tap and there it is. And yet, increasingly, many of us are buying water in bottles because we don't trust the tap.
Check out the YouTube video of an industrial water plume in the U.S.
Toxic Groundwater Plume in Bethpage, New York
Northrop Grumman Corporation operated a plant in the Bethpage community for years. The plant is now closed, but the legacy of its presence remains. The plume will affect the surrounding community for years to come.
In my town, we get notices about the pollutants that have been found in the most recent testing of our community well water. Reading through the report can give one a headache.
There are 'allowable' levels of almost all nasty elements. Those allowable elements (established by governing local and federal authorities) are based on research that shows "levels known to cause health effects in animal studies." The report states that "...consuming water with (the pollutant)at the level(s) detected does not pose a significant health risk."
So, the water in my tap is officially 'safe'. I'm one of the lucky ones. According to a World Bank report (published March, 2023), only 74% of the global population (human) has access to clean drinking water. That leaves about 2 billion people up the proverbial (in this case polluted) creek.
Pit Latrine and Well, Lusaka Peri-Urban Area, Gambia
Photo by Kennedy Mayumbelo. Attribution SuSanASecretariat of the Sustainable Sanitation Alliance. Used under CC 2.0 license.
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Lest one point to Gambia, or other so-called third-world communities for sources of such ground pollution, I recall one of the homes I moved into as a child.
If the camera had panned over to the right, it might have captured the image of a large trash heap. When we moved into the house (which my grandfather bought) there was a trash heap down the slope and nearby the well that supplied our drinking water.
We were told not to drink the well water before boiling it. I'm sure the boiling took care of pathogens, but what of the other pollutants that seeped into the ground and likely leached into the well water? The trash pile had been there for generations.
Eventually, my grandfather had a well dug in the front yard and we could drink our tap water.
In making the collage I first of all tip my hat to the template. What an image. Then I thank the LIL Gallery, which provided several images I used. I thank @muelli and @yaziris.
- Graffiti trailer
@muelli
https://www.lmac.gallery/lil-gallery-image/2526
Two images from the gallery were my contribution:
Children playing
@agmoore
https://www.lmac.gallery/lil-gallery-image/10789Rabbit
@agmoore
https://www.lmac.gallery/lil-gallery-image/13083
Then, from Pixabay I borrowed trash:
The concept for the collage was simple. Not only would I show trash, but I would show how it affected the environment. Children play in it, or near it. Vegetables grown near it surely absorb pollutants, and the rabbit eating the vegetables will likely spread the pollutants in the environment: a predator will consume the pollutants when it consumes the rabbit, or the rabbit's excrement may leave traces of the pollution on the ground.
Process
This was not smooth. My first concept was terrible. Then I settled on this yard full of junk, from Pixabay as the basis for my collage:
I replaced some of the 'junk' in that picture with elements from the template:
I added @muelli's trailer
Added the foam in the water, the children and ran the picture through a Lunapic filter
Added the tomatoes and the rabbit
Then I added more junk and refined the color in the boy's (standing) pants.
LIL is not only a valuable image resource for the Hive community, but is also a way for community members to participate in LMAC. Anyone on Hive can contribute to the library and everyone can borrow from it. Learn about the procedure here.
Every week we offer prizes to fifteen finalists in the contest, but it's not only the prizes people create for. I, for example, don't compete but spend hours giving vent to my imagination. Others in the community have developed the habit of 'speaking' through collage.
This week's contest has concluded. You can vote for your favorites at the LMAC poll here.
As @shaka has said many times, everyone is an artist. I may not be an artist in the technical sense, but LMAC allows me to nurture my own unique artistic voice.
Thank you for reading. Peace and health to all.