The series Troubled Water was photographed during a trip to Louisiana in 2011 and continued in 2012 with a focus on the loss of land in the coastal region of Louisiana.
One year after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon I sought out evidence of the aftermath of the Oil Spill in both landscape photographs and portraits of residents.
I attempted to capture the allover experienced atmosphere of uncertainty in a visual essay. As if listening to blues I witnessed both grievance and pride: an environment under persistent distress yet hopefully waiting for a better future evolving from a deeply rooted resilience.
Questions arise: how do we treat our environment and how do we guarantee a sustainable living dealing with fragile eco-systems in times of risky and regardless demands of energy-resources?
Regarding the vanishing of land and habitat due to erosion as a consequence of about 10,000 miles of canals and pipelines cut through the coastal marshes to services offshore-drilling sites we have to witness how the conditions of petrochemical production is now literally eating the land away.
Born and raised at the westcoast of northern Germany I felt a strong connection to the “familiar“ in the landscape of the marshlands and the seascapes. Apart from that I was drawn to the flamboyant nature of the swamps and the woods . Louisiana provides the complex and paradox image of a strong natural and cultural heritage and the double-sided faces of modern needs with the exploitation of land through petrochemical production,and the domestication of a mighty river . I believe in quiet imagery. In times of inflational creation and use of images I search for quietude and tranquillity, which implies a mellow tone of narration. My visual idiom is not aiming at superficial effects but at sustained impact. The deceleration of time and space with the use of the medium format camera prompts us to observe with equal slowness to the point of pausing our own motion and in the ideal case to affect and raise questions.
Constanze Flamme was born 1981 in Husum, Germany.
She studied Communication Design in Potsdam and photography in Amsterdam and received travel and project grants
from Academy of Arts, Berlin (2011) and VG Bild-Kunst (2012)
