This etching with aquatint
à la poupée plate is part of the
Pipelines and Borderlines portfolio exchange project in which I had previously participated in with the piece
Atra Mors. This 3rd iteration of the portfolio is based on actual stories of the havoc that extreme energy extraction has wrought on the environment, communities and people's lives. I chose to depict the fuel train derailment in 2014 that obliterated the
Canadian
town of Lac-Mégantic and took the lives of 47 people including children. These derailments and oil spills are worsening every year. From 1975-2012 a total of 800,000 gallons of crude oil had been spilled in US derailments. In 2013 alone over 1.15 million gallons had been spilled. Our blind dependence on fossil fuels is literally destroying peoples lives and livelihoods. The title is taken by the town's coroner who was quoted as saying that the 47 people killed had died "A Violent Death."
