Susan Turcot "Exxon Valdez's offspring"
5.11. - 18.12.2010
5.11. - 18.12.2010
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» deutsche version
Motifs of this series of drawings are taken up and partially diverted by a two-armed mobile that Turcot has assembled on site out of found objects – the core of a car tyre and palm fronds painted black. At the end of one arm hangs a plastic cup with a last rest of water, on the other side there is a note with the word “Slavery?”. With these motifs, her drawings access new and other spaces of meaning in that they critique political-ecological symbolisms and metaphors.
“My interest lies in resource economies, countries like Canada becoming petro states or, as it has been called, a mafia capitalist state. Their huge profits subvert political systems, nature and human beings are objects whose worth is determined by the market.
» deutsche version
Motifs of this series of drawings are taken up and partially diverted by a two-armed mobile that Turcot has assembled on site out of found objects – the core of a car tyre and palm fronds painted black. At the end of one arm hangs a plastic cup with a last rest of water, on the other side there is a note with the word “Slavery?”. With these motifs, her drawings access new and other spaces of meaning in that they critique political-ecological symbolisms and metaphors.
“My interest lies in resource economies, countries like Canada becoming petro states or, as it has been called, a mafia capitalist state. Their huge profits subvert political systems, nature and human beings are objects whose worth is determined by the market.
As the government keeps accepting petro dollars, they open the way for economic slavery, and workers to wage slavery, e.g. abolishment of unions, temporary contracts, 21 days of 12 hr. shift work, 7 days off to dehumanize and fuel brain death (discourage debate/dissent) while promoting consumer reward targets. The self becomes invisible.
In his book Tar Sands - Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent, the Canadian journalist Andrew Nikiforuk makes a comparison between petroleum-based societies and slave-holding societies. Both are addicted to the wealth and convenience generated by their respective tools. Both can’t imagine living without their tools. Both corrupt the functioning and bankrupt the ethics of their societies.” (Susan Turcot)